Establish a routine as an act of self love!

A routine that goes beyond the food and shelter necessities of life and extends into the purposeful use of creating whatever you desire for your life. For me, I wanted chronic wellness but I was “too busy”.

Most people stop at busy and just live there. Which is fine, if you are happily busy.

But when I think about how busy feels, I know that it is also unhealthy. This is because busy “controls” you. Because you are “busy” you allow more bad choices for yourself. Tell me I am wrong… those were EXACTLY my actions when I was letting busy control me.

Nothing to be ashamed of, nearly all people use busy as a reason to stay “stuck” unhealthy. The truth was though, that I lacked routine, on top of having underlying emotional issues and an eating disorder as well as my medical conditions on top of those things!

Once I established healthy routine for myself I began to see the changes more consistently because well… I was using my routine.

I needed some structure while being on disability to keep my mental health progress from slipping, and taking my physical health with it. Or vice versa depending on the hormone situation.

Routine kept me at least with intentions and learning focus for days when bed was my only option. My rest became active and purposeful with the routine I created.

This is what I came up with to keep it simple but effective for ME and my big plans for chronic wellness!

Set up Sunday. It is self explanatory. I set myself up for the week on Sundays. Meal planning, I check our family calendar and school emails to make sure that I plan my energy for extra activities. This 10-30 minutes saves hours of energy. Something as simple as just knowing what is coming helps eliminate energy obstacles.

My suggestion is to set yourself up for a better week with a little forethought.

I use Monday’s to take care of appointments and errands. If I have a project or a desire to do a “me” thing for my self care journey. I typically plan it for Monday. Me Monday is about taking time to appreciate yourself, in ways that you have been too busy to try before. Self care is not selfish. I have spent many Monday’s working through that lesson for myself by practicing and getting to know ME. Me Monday has been so helpful to my growth.

Hahaha! Yep that says see you next Tuesday well because it is true, and funny at the same time. Tuesday’s are for goal setting/ progress check in for me.

On this journey, you inevitably set goals and rise to challenges. Tuesday’s for me are the day that I take a few moments to review where I am at with progress and add any to -do’s to my weekly list.

Every Tuesday I check in, and my goals are achieved faster than ever with this practice!

Water Wednesday is the day where I typically get lazy with the fatigue of the mid week energy crash.

I give myself a break here on the physical output and just go back to basics. Water consumption is my focus on Wednesday.

Thorough Thursday is the day I tidy my house for the weekend, as well as attempt to tie up any loose ends from goal setting Tuesday for the week.

Fun Friday. Friday has always been my favourite day. So I like to make it fun. We typically will do date nights or mini adventures.

Adventure Saturday. Self explanatory. We try to have some kind of adventure on Saturday. Typically outside. Our family favourites include hiking, paddle boarding, cliff jumping and camping. We are all outdoor lovers!

Your story might not fall down the trauma rabbit hole as far as some do, and that is good news; and it doesn’t make your trauma or emotional hurt any less or be any less valid than anyone else’s.

Part of my journey has been figuring out how to articulate my lessons back to people struggling and this is what I developed so far as a starting point for anyone.

I set my intentions, ground and centre myself, look at my position and goals, make sure I am nourishing my body, complete a secondary check in, release it all with love, play and adventure before starting right back at setting intentions. That is the routine to follow for your own self love journey!

Love yourself first, establish a routine that encourages you to grow forward!

-B. 💋