Consistency is not exciting, and why routine gets a bad rap.
You know exactly what I'm talking about.
Maybe you're a parent and you preach this to your kids – in like, a “do as I say but not as I do” kinda way, because you want them to have healthy habits but you low-key need to snack on chocolate in the closet.
Or maybe you don't even know what I'm talking about because you do find routine to be thrilling!
(If so, please contact me: I need an assistant.)
But for most of us, routine gets boring.
We want to switch it up, and sometimes that's to the detriment of our health (there's a thing called revenge bedtime procrastination), work, and relationships.
The problem with the continual mixing-up is that humans and bodies are designed for routine, so in our quest for small dopamine hits, the resultant disruption makes the whole process of getting back into routine takes way more metabolic energy than if we had just continued to make the bed, as it were.
A small way around this can be to engage in what's called microproductivity: where you break larger tasks down into smaller, more manageable bits.
When you do this, you reduce overwhelm and increase your odds of not procrastinating yourself into oblivion.
As someone with the inattentive variety of ADHD, what I like to do is work backwards, look at the big picture (which is 10000% my speciality), and then begin breaking down from there. Personally, that helps me with the paralyzing overwhelm.
For instance, think about what you want to be doing/how you want to be/what you want your life to look like 3 months from now?
THAT'S MID JULY.
Are you taking a vacation?
Are you completely recovered from your long-hauler symptoms?
Are you playing sports with friends?
At the beach?
Killing it at work?
Starting a new business?
Being awesomely connected with your kids who are kinda being jerks?
Some of those things merely take time: right now, it doesn't make sense to go to the beach, for instance.
But others take more effort, like the last one. Maintaining presence when you just want to check out requires real effort.
Or, say, recovering from long-hauler symptoms. For healing to happen, inflammation needs to be reduced. The fog needs to clear. Things like this take time, work, and effort – and it can feel downright hopeless.
In order for that effort to be worth it in the moment, you have to be able to achieve small goals.
Ooooooooobviously I will recommend weekly acupuncture to help with the accomplishing of your goals, because as so many people have attested, the overall theme of “it helps me human better” is truly a unique part of what makes acupuncture so good.
And I'm here as your acupuncturist because of that exact reason.
But you can start the process in whatever way works best for you – small tiny needles or not!
