I’ve spoken with people who have a hard time getting out of the daily rut so they can incorporate healing modalities into their daily routines. Many of us get into these patterns of daily behaviors that can become mundane and almost hypnotic – we do what we need to do to get through the day – whether at work or home or within our role as parent or caretaker. It can sometimes feel like when we are driving and all of a sudden we get to our destination, but don’t remember the drive.

Healing is also made more challenging by the way we feel – many of us are sad, lost, frustrated or even experience negative emotions like anger. These feelings can dictate whether or not we will have good days or challenging ones, and how we feel in general.

This combination of routine and difficult feelings can make starting and sticking to a healing journey taxing. So how do we get past this? Here are some things you can try to break up the monotony and feel happier:

1. Change your morning routine. If you are used to getting up at a certain time each morning and going through the same routine to get ready for the day, try getting up half an hour earlier and meditating, stretching, or writing in a journal about how grateful you feel. You can try a different thing each day and see how you feel as you go about your day. I find that expressing gratitude and meditating in the morning upon waking sets a positive mood for my entire day.

2. Alter your commute experience. If you commute to work change things up during your drive. If you normally listen to music pick a completely different type of music, or listen to an inspiring podcast while you drive (try The Divorce to Bliss Podcast – wink). Stay away from listening to the news, as negative stories can actually bring you down and affect your mood…not a good start to the day.

3. Modify the lunch hour. If you usually eat at the same time/place or the same food each day, try instead to go outside and get some fresh air. You can bring an easy to eat lunch with you and find somewhere pretty to sit – even under a tree or in a park. The fresh air and nature will truly make you feel better.

4. Switch up the after-work routine. Whether you go straight home or pick up kids after work, try to incorporate small changes to your routine. Pick up the kids and stop by a park or get a healthy snack, or if you don’t have kids sign up for a class after work (art, exercise, or just a meet-up with friends). Even if you do this once a week the schedule change will be fun and get you out of the expected, so you are not simply arriving home and not remembering the drive. Plus, when we have something to look forward to all day we tend to be a bit happier.

Once you start incorporating small changes to your schedule, note how you feel and write it in your journal. If one or a few things feel good, keep them up. But also change them around after some time so you keep up the sense of experiencing differences in your routine, which defies expectation and gets you excited. At this point you can start working on an aspect of healing and setting time aside every day for it – such as every morning or every evening after dinner.

If you need help creating a healing plan please feel free to reach out to me. Sometimes there is so much work to address that it can seem overwhelming, so it is important to focus on baby steps and on one type of healing at a time. But starting with routine change is a great way to rev up your body, mind and spirit so you can do the work and grow into the new and best version of you. 🦋