Routine Freedom
Oh hey friends, welcome back!
I was speaking to a friend the other day about how annoying it actually is that no one tells you its OK to break from your routine. All you ever hear is 11 steps to enlightenment, 21-days to rock hard abs, 2 weeks for a new diet, or whatever the latest fad is. No one tells you, its ok to change that! Or of course some drastic diet may work over 2 weeks, your body is freaking out. Then it stabilizes to your new normal and you aren’t happy anymore. Or you push through the new workout regime you began, and you resent it and working out in general. So now you have an overdose of cortisol whenever you workout, your body is probably in fight or flight, and whatever benefit you may have gotten, is really a wash. No one tells you its actually ok to work out one day / week, maybe walk another, start riding a bike, change your mind, just sit outside and enjoy that first sip of coffee with the birds. Maybe you loved high intensity, high impact for years, and suddenly you are in a phase you need something softer, or vice versa. You only ever did yoga and pilates, but you start lifting weights and love it! Not every routine has to be so, well, routine. I think we have talked about this before, but you can just time block your “routine”.
Time blocking your routine?
What do I mean by that? Well, it gives you a sense of stability and organization, aka: routine; with the allowance of freedom! Let’s say you work a regular 9-5, maybe you have something like this…
5-6am wake up and daily mindfulness (meditate, gratitude, journal - yes, this could be in bed and only 5 minutes)
6-6.30am movement (walk, workout, stretch, ??)
6.30-7.30am get ready & pack
7.30-7.45am breath, enjoy a few sips of tea / coffee
7.45-9am finish getting ready, get to work?
Maybe you function on a different schedule, maybe you would rather do these things at night. Whatever your jam is, thats amazing - I’m just sharing from my perspective. My husband wakes up at 4:30 to workout and leaves at 6am. At one point I would wake at 5, half get ready, go to the gym to workout, then finish getting ready there. Now, I wake up 1.5 or 2 hours before I leave somewhere so I have time for my “blocking”. It doesn’t matter what anyone is telling you is the right routine. It actually just what makes you feel good.
The reason I prefer to just time block is, it allows for ebbs and flows in my energy. I know my body craves some sort of movement in the morning when I get up, but depending on my mood, energy, etc, this allows that movement to be stretching, work out, walk, or a combination of the above. I no longer make myself feel bad because I’m not meditating, journaling, walking, then workout; or walk, workout, meditate, journal. Whichever phase I was in, I was doing a combination of all the things! And lets be honest, who has time for a 3-hour morning routine everyday!
Ok so what is my purpose here?
Its just to tell you, it is ok to change! You are not wrong, or bad, or less than for switching up your routine! Its ok that you didn’t want your smoothie this morning for breakfast and went for a boiled egg and muffin. Its also fine that you never got into, or changed your mind on juicing every morning. Maybe you didn’t want to give up that first sip of coffee to drink tea exclusively, also ok! You came here for the human experience. Depriving yourself of all things that currently exist doesn’t make you better, there are no secrets and keys to enlightenment. Its just happiness. Its choosing joy and love above all else. Having compassion - mostly for yourself, and always knowing that you can change your mind. The only secret to winning this game of life, is following your heart, listening to that Inner Being of yours - that eternal wisdom, higher power, spirit, whatever you want to call it.
Just thought we could all use a little reminder, as I have been struggling with this a lot myself over the last little bit. Its ok to change. That is a quintessential part of being human.