When Life Takes Away Your Routine

Anyone who knows me knows I thrive with structure. That’s definitely not something I just figured out about myself.

But the last few weeks have been a pretty good reminder of just how much that structure supports me. Between our kitchen renovation, not having a functioning kitchen, traveling for almost two weeks and staying in a bunch of different places, pretty much every part of my normal routine has been thrown off.

And I want to keep that in perspective because I’ve been practicing a lot of gratitude through all of this. I know people going through really hard things right now, things they didn’t choose and can’t control. We chose to renovate our kitchen. We chose to travel while it was happening. I know how fortunate I am that this is the kind of chaos I’m managing.

But it has still been interesting to see what happens when I take away the structure I normally rely on. Preparing healthy meals takes more thought. Exercise has to be intentionally fit in. Sleep is different in every environment. Meditation doesn’t automatically happen at the time and place I’m used to doing it. All of those little things that normally flow pretty naturally in my life suddenly require a lot more effort and intention.

And it’s made me think about my clients differently too. I coach people through all kinds of disruptions: travel, work stress, family responsibilities, moving, illness in the family, caring for aging parents. Things that can make the routines that once felt easy suddenly feel really hard.

I’ve always understood that intellectually. Living through my own much smaller version of disruption has reminded me how different it feels when you’re actually in it.

Sometimes you can’t get your normal structure back right away, and your routine has to adjust with it. You have to figure out what you can control, decide which habits matter most right now and be much more intentional about keeping those few things going.

I’ve gotten really good at packing over the last few weeks. And apparently, I’ve gotten pretty good at managing chaos too. But I have an even greater appreciation for the structure that helps me feel like myself, and maybe a little more empathy for how hard it can be to create it when life isn’t cooperating.