The Beauty of A Routine
From Kindergarten to the middle of my senior year, I had lived my life in a routine. Days filled with eight-hour school days and evenings with sports and extracurriculars. However, now a routine like that seems hard to even fathom. How was I able to muster that much energy and succeed? During the beginning of the lockdown, I lost myself I was sleeping in till late in the afternoon, scrolling aimlessly, and then repeating myself over the next day. My mental and physical health deteriorated drastically, and it was very apparent to the eye. Finally, one day I decided I had enough. I know, I know… our parents have been nagging us about this for years, but honestly, I think they were onto something here. So here’s my advice for incorporating empowering activities into your day or hacks to maximize your time.
Self-care :)
I am a huge advocate of doing little bits of self-care every day. Some days we may need more than others so please make that time because you deserve it!
Self-care is whatever makes you feel good about yourself. For me, it is going outside and a solid skincare routine! I try to do these two things every day.
Create
Cooking, writing, drawing, etc. I am not gonna bullshit you guys here; I’ve never gotten much from mediation, so I guess creating is as close as that feeling can get for me. I personally find it super easy to get wrapped up in all these distractions; however, I find it extremely therapeutic to take a second to create. I have not gotten into the habit of doing this regularly until recently, and I have seen a drastic change in my mental health. 10/10 recommend taking the time to create in whatever way that looks like for you.
Multi-tasking
Now, this is my SAVING GRACE. If I am folding clothes, I listen to a podcast or book on tape, maybe even one I need to read for school to save time. If I have spare time, I watch TV and do some quick meal prep. Another hack is to use voice memo to quickly whip up a paper. I actually find that it makes my papers sound more authentic. Go on a walk and make phone calls, and book appointments. Squeaking by with extra time as a result of multitasking helps to allot more time to spend doing whatever makes you happy.