How to Find a New Routine During Transition

Life changes, more rapidly than we expect. One minute, we’re learning how to tie our shoes, and the next, we’re graduating college and learning how to navigate adulthood. Suddenly time playing with our toys turns into late night study sessions at Starbucks and never ending cups of coffee (or if you’re like me, cups of tea.) 

When you’re faced with change, your routine tends to fall through the cracks. A lack of structure brings a lot of anxiety. As you continue to make your way through a new year and decade, here are a few practical ways to find a new rhythm so you can make the most out of this season of change:

Bring good, familiar habits into your new space. 

Take time to set up your space with a daily planner or app. Purchase the products you’ll need to equip yourself and lay things out in a way that feels familiar to you. When you’re experiencing transition, your mind naturally finds comfort in familiarity. 

Your mind naturally finds comfort in familiarity. 

When you are in a new season and you bring good habits from the past—like hanging your polaroid pictures on the wall or packing your favorite snack—it can help you feel at home. 

When we moved into our new apartment as newlyweds, my husband and I had a difficult time adjusting the first couple days because it was completely new territory. Yet, by setting up our home in a way that felt familiar to us both, it allowed us to bring our walls down and enjoy the experience of having our first apartment together.

Jot down what’s important for your day. 

Write down priorities or type it into a note on your smartphone. If you’re like me, then writing things out helps to affirm what tasks you need to accomplish in order to get to the next phase. What steps do you need to get you out of the door and on your way to work? Is it breakfast, makeup or devotions? Map out a day in your life. 

Everyone has quirks when it comes to what makes them feel comfortable in establishing a routine. For me, it’s my skincare and dental routine that helps me feel in the swing of things for the day. It’s just something that makes me feel accomplished and ready to take on the world. 

Create an agenda or get your life scheduled out on Google calendar. Increment time throughout the day when you can accomplish the steps that set you up for success. This will leave you feeling like the boss woman that you are. Many times we rush through life trying to get by, but when we intentionally take time to map things out that are important to us, it helps us to stay on top of our game. 

When we intentionally take time to map things out that are important to us, it helps us to stay on top of our game. 

Deal with your stress.

When you experience changes of any kind, stress is an inevitable part of the process. Sometimes, your body can be stressed to the max, and you won’t realize it because you’re trying to cope by shoving your emotions to the side. Any change can bring up an emotional response, whether you like it or not. It’s okay to not be okay. Sometimes, we need a break.

It’s okay to not be okay. Sometimes, we need a break.

Instead of avoiding it, actually deal with your stress. To cope, do healthy things to soothe yourself in the moment. Self-care allows for you to step back and regroup. Work out, get your nails done, go out with your gal pals and seek out therapy by speaking with a professional counselor. 

Reach out to your circle. 

If you’re experiencing any tension, then take a step back and make it known. It’s okay to let people know you’re stressed. We all experience stress. Yet, sometimes we sulk in our feelings, and it can be easy to feel like no one cares. In reality, people care more than we think.

Go to a trusted friend and confide in them by expressing yourself. Life transitions are huge, and the ability to debrief with a friend about it can be like medicine to the soul. Don’t wait for others to reach out to you, but rather, initiate the hangout to talk about what you’re experiencing. If you don’t currently have friends you can trust with this part of your life, then plug into a healthy social group, whether it’s a school club, gym class or support group.

Routines are like seasons—they come and go. Sometimes change is what you need to push you to your next level.

How have you learned to cope with change and create new routines? Is it sometimes difficult to begin again?

Image via Margaret Stokman