Maybe now more than ever morning routines matter. Over the past 10 months since this whole pandemic started I have learned the importance of routine in my life. When the stay-at-home orders first hit in March, which now seems like a lifetime ago, I figured this would last maybe a month, or two at the outset. I treated the stay at home time as one long pajama day, focusing on the crisis first, huddling in with my husband, stocking up and laying low. The mantra of “Stay home, stay connected. This too shall pass”.
Then the reality of what this was becoming set in and as weeks passed into months, and the cancellation of life events continued. Weddings postponed, then postponed again, my son’s match day, then graduation, summer trips, another wedding canceled, school starting up again remotely, no trick or treating, another remote graduation, and then the holidays without extended friends and family. All the while we try to wake up every day and set some type of routine, some semblance of normalcy.
This is the last Sunday of 2020, and the beginning of my traditional week of reset. We clear out the holiday clutter, set new year’s goals, and look forward to what comes next. With the vaccine in reach, there is a visible light at the end of this tunnel. I know that next year, things will begin to open up safely again, and we will return to what people refer to as a “new normal”. But what do I want that to look like?
The greatest lesson I have learned in recent months has been the realization that I am not a person who is driven by self-motivation. My routines were driven by my social plans, my connections, and not necessarily focusing on me. For example, it took a few months to realize that I can get dressed up for myself, that not every day needs to be professional on the top and leggings and slippers on the bottom. I deserve to wear make up and real pants not because I will see someone, but because it makes me feel better. I can cook healthy meals, take walks and work out not because I am taking care of others, but because it is good for me. These thoughts are the beginnings of redefining my routines and goals, not based on what my busy life dictated, but now coming to terms with bigger ideas of who I want to be.
It is a different reset this year. As I sit here on the couch writing this, I have come to realize that I have a few more months where I will be working from home, and that these hours that blend into days and weeks can and will be filled differently. There are many things out of my control, but my time, my schedule, my choices on my own personal growth, that is up to me. So this most recent stay at home order looks different than March, because the focus for me, for now, is to not wait for that light at the end of the tunnel, but create that light in my life right now.