Why I Created A Routine And Why You Should Too.

This is one of those topics that can be a help whatever your circumstances. Let me tell you why I created a routine and why you should too.

Creating a daily routine, was of paramount importance in my journey to getting my life back together. Whoa, hang on, that’s a whole other story, sorry. Makes it sound like my life was shredded and in tatters…. Back to it.

Whether you start with a list, make a note of things as you do them or even just keep it in your head, having a daily routine helps you keep track of your progress.

Creating a daily routine becomes habit and is a great way of making the best use of your time and avoiding large, empty spaces where you might find yourself spending a little too much time in your head. Really isn’t a good place to be sometimes.

Start at the Beginning

As these articles are mainly based on my own experiences, I’ll start with how I approached establishing a more organised day. Let’s just say, hypothetically of course, that there might have been the tiniest possibility that I wasn’t on top of my game, generally speaking. However, I had turned a corner and was no longer spending huge amounts of time sprawled on the sofa watching Star Trek re-runs. Let’s be honest, I still do that now.

Waking up and getting up, as we know are two very different beasts. After all of my stress with sleep (Not quite insomnia but not the best), at last I was in relatively good place. You can lie in bed to your hearts content but you need a reason to get up. As a sidebar, it’s worth mentioning, that for most us (you), get up every day to go to work for someone else…we owe it to ourselves to do the same when we’re not working…day off and such like. I make a good point. Remember also, that when I came up with this lot, I wasn’t working, long story, again for another time.

I had good reasons to get up, two dogs and exercise. The dogs was a ‘no-brainer’, if I failed to get up and let them out, well, I’m sure you can imagine the carnage I would find when I came downstairs. Not pretty.

Order out of Chaos

So we’re off. I now have purpose right at the start of the day. Up and dressed and off out do some dog walking. After my return, I start on my exercise routine, nothing over the top but a solid foundation to build on. A wash off I’m ready to look at something else to distract me. That’s what it’s about at this stage, distraction. Something to occupy my mind.

Setting up a routine and having a purpose were excellent tools in helping with my general well-being. When you’re ‘between jobs’ it’s easy to fall into the wrong mindset. Worries about money is only a small part of it. Worthiness or lack thereof is also a big factor. Feeling sorry for yourself was another. I know, pull yourself together and all that. Easier said than done.

Write it down

For me, a diary was a must, I needed to keep track of what I was doing every day. You may have another form of medium, iPad, phone or even the calendar/notes facility on your PC. You might not even want to write stuff down, up to you, whatever works best.

Keeping a daily log of my exploits meant that I could refer back at any time without having to try to remember. My brain wasn’t in the best place for that, lack of focus. I could keep an eye on how I was improving with the exercise. It was also my way of keeping record of my accomplishments, long as was being honest with myself. I had a permanent record of everything I was doing. It was a way of having evidence of being productive. Something I could look back on and say “I did that”

Being Productive

After lunch became ‘Ironing’ time. We are a family of six, so there is never a shortage of washing and ironing. This was to become one of my favourite times of the day. We’ll touch on a couple of the reasons here but I’ll go into more depth at a later date as the subject matter deserves a place on its own.

Ironing, totally productive and ‘mindful’ when you want it to be. I could happily spend an hour or two, if not more, most days, in the kitchen with iron in hand. I would have the radio on to start with and then I started to listen to audio books. This led me onto self-help content. Like I said, this part deserves a page all to its self. Some of the ideas I gleaned from the audio CD’s, I still use today. The other gem I picked up on was ‘mindfulness. Being able concentrate on only one thing, ‘being mindful’, again was something I learnt in the early days and have kept with me ever since. Another page beckons for that subject as well. I could have a book by the end of this.

Now I was ‘cooking on gas’. I had an appetite to find meaningful things to do. I started to de-clutter, whether this had a direct correlation to my state of mind, I’m not sure. Going through the house from top to bottom. Throwing things out, reorganising, cleaning, tidying, recycling and even ‘up cycling’

I’d had an EBay account for a while but had barely used it. Now I was finding items purely to sell, obviously checking first that it wasn’t some other family members keepsake, that really wouldn’t do. Can you imagine ? “Dad, where’s the TV ?” My bad. I also used some of the selling groups on Facebook to hawk stuff. We had taken a financial hit with me being off work and although I wasn’t earning a full time wage selling, I was at least bearing fruit from my efforts. I was finally being production and with that the first seeds of self-confidence started to sprout.

Staying With The Program

This was all many years ago during some of my darker days. We all have them and they generally don’t tend to go away on their own. They need some persuading. That happens when we decide to get off our butts and do something about it, about life. Rather than waiting for life to turn things round for us.

I still have a routine today, it’s not the same as back then, but it still works for me. Whether you’re in a bad place, like I was, or just moving through life in the way that we do, a routine, schedule or plan can still be of great benefit. Never forget the hardships you have endured for they can be a constant reminder of how far you have come.

I had lost cohesion and structure in my life and I had to start somewhere to build it back up. At the start and for a long time, it was like a ‘house of cards’ you never knew when a gust of wind was going to blow it down. Blow it did, on numerous occasions but I just started building again. As time has passed by, the cards have been replaced with solid blocks. Not all of them but enough to provide me with a firm foundation with which I have been able to build mine and my families future on.

Sycamore McBride