It’s been 2 weeks since I wrote a blog post. It’s been a week and a half since I’ve woken up at 5:45am, since I’ve gone to the gym, and since I’ve written in my planner. This post is the total opposite of my morning routine post; I’ve been so OUT of routine I haven’t felt myself. I was doing so well with working towards my goals for a solid 6 weeks that it brings up a few questions: What caused me to nose dive out of my routine? Why is this happening now? And most importantly, how do I get myself back to my routine and find motivation? It seems like there’s something going around because in the last week I’ve seen a few Youtube videos and blog posts about feeling stuck, things not going to plan and staying motivated.
The one question I do have a confident answer in is: why is this happening now? I started falling out of my routine 2 weekends ago. I had an event filled weekend, including last weekend, and got an annoying head cold (I’m pretty sure this head cold is still lingering). My body and mind felt more drained than it did at the beginning of the year. I thought this feeling would last a few days, but then it carried on into 2 weeks.
So, what caused me to nose dive out of my routine? I have a few theories on this, but if I know myself really well, I’ve narrowed it down to this: I needed rest.
This is a pretty consistent pattern of mine. When I do too many things at once or try to achieve many things at once, my body and my mind shut down. It’s like I put both of them in hyperdrive and together they say “whoa girl chill out!” Throughout my 6 weeks of waking up early and going to the gym, I would start adding things to my morning routine, like reading, writing and making a full breakfast. Work was picking up, using most of my mental energy. I was in the process of creating this blog and created a writing schedule to stick to. I was going to bed later to try to fit everything in. I felt like everything I wanted to accomplish within a day or week was so packed in, that it created a recipe for me falling apart, especially when things would get added to my schedule like events. So the moment I got sick and said it was okay to rest, it really spiraled from there.
Snoozing felt amazing, not working out felt amazing, laying on the couch scrolling through Instagram and binge watching The Good Place felt amazing (I highly recommend this show if you have not seen it). The rest I was taking felt amazing, but I had this little voice creep in my head “okay, when are you going back to your routine?” And the voice got louder and louder until I finally had to say enough and find a way to pull myself out of this resting hole that was turning into a lazy trap.
So, how am I getting myself back into my routine?
I went to the gym this past Monday night to get my body moving, I wrote this blog post and I planned my next day using my planner. It does not sound like a lot, but it is the steps I need to take in the right direction to feel productive and motivated.
I want to add that it is important to embrace when your body and mind tells you to rest. This is to avoid any burnout. It’s also important to know what your limits are and be okay with those limits. I probably shouldn’t pack in trying to do too many new things at once into my schedule and give myself a few weeks to feel like my routine is second nature before adding in new things. It does take 60 to 90 days to form habits… and it’s only been about half that time for me to form my morning routine. So even if you fall out of a routine, know that you have plenty of time to get right back into it when you’re ready.