Do you crave routine or does it repel you?

 For many of us, being in a regular routine creates a sense of stability in a sometimes-chaotic world.  For others, it can seem stifling.  

According to our friends at Northwestern medicine, a regular routine offers many health benefits including better sleep, a calmer mental state, the commitment to regular exercise routine, and more.

I’m sure you can see how this would work in your favour. We’ve all had those days where we let our time fill up with unnecessary, although seemingly urgent, tasks. But, when we get to the end of the day, we realize that there’s no gas left in our tank.  

We consume ourselves with other people’s emergencies, only to replay them in our mind. Then, we dive in on social media to numb ourselves instead of hitting the mat for a yoga practice, reading a book, or enjoying a bath before bed.  Afterwards, we fall into a fitful sleep when simply sticking to our bedtime routine would have had us more chill and ready to nod off to dreamland.

We don’t take the time to meal prep on the weekend, so we end up grabbing food on the go. That adds a couple of pounds to our frame and some guilt to our brain. 

#amiright?

Establishing a routine can help to keep our health on track.  It takes away the tendency to jump to this, that or the other thing. It also keeps us focused and on track.  Over the long haul, those who follow regular routines tend to get more of the “deep work” of their lives done. And that’s simply because it’s scheduled. 

“A daily routine, built on good habits and disciplines, separates the most successful among us from everyone else.  The routine is exceptionally powerful. ”   Darren Hardy

There are some however, for whom routine is like death!

“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine.  It’s lethal. ”  Paulo Coelho

Ah yes, there are 2 sides to every coin, aren’t there?

For some people, a regular routine can feel stifling.  They feel like they’re too tied down, and all manner of choice has been removed from their life.  Routine can create boredom and a feeling of stagnation for folks who thrive on change.

Professionally, I would argue that it’s much easier to keep your health goals on track, and to meet the demands of your life, if you’re able to set up some sort of a routine in your household and your life.  We always want to allow for some flexibility, of course, yet somewhere inside of each of us lives a girl fantasizing about having her life perfectly ordered for her, don’t you think?

Somehow we know that if we can follow a daily routine, we can get more done.

Do you ever contemplate how much easier your life would be if you had a chef, a house cleaner, a person to run your errands – you know, take care of the mundane,  things so that you can live your life.  If we can somehow schedule our lives so that the routine, mundane things are happening inside of a system, we should have MORE time for spontaneity and play, not less.

I guess that’s where I’ll plant my flag on this issue -regular routine can be used to create guilt free spontaneity in your life! You CAN have it both ways.