Habit and Routine

Habit

"For a habit is a delight in itself; poor human nature is conscious of the ease that it is to repeat the doing of anything without effort; and therefore, the formation of a habit, the gradually lessening sense of effort in a given act, is pleasurable." 

~ Charlotte Mason 

Because of the age of this quote you might need to reread it a few times and mull it over in your brain. But once the lightbulb goes off, you will see why I felt the need to add it. 

We make hundreds if not thousands of decisions in a day. If you do too many new things, say go on vacation, or visit a new place, you may feel tired at the end of the day from the overload of new decisions you needed to make. People complain of getting  stuck in a rut, but it's the ruts that carry us through, giving us familiarity and comfort, taking the majority of the load for us. 

Why do we say we need a vacation from vacation? Why is it that a husband who offers to stay home from work to help out a sick wife ends up getting booted out after lunch, why do we hate the first day of work after a long weekend more than a normal weekend. The answer to all of them is a lack or loss of routine and habit.  We need our old familiar standby routines to help bear the weight.

Find Your Good Habits

You probably already have some good habits in place. Brushing your teeth each night, maybe making your bed every morning. Eating Dinner. Anyone's life is going to have habits somewhere. Even the busiest people, the traveler, the mentally impaired - humans thrive on habit. 

1. Make a list of all the good habits you can find. here are some examples. 

 - filing bills and putting away mail each day

 - putting your clothes and shoes away after taking them off

 - going to bed with a clean sink

 - emptying your car each time you get out

 - having toy clean up time before nap and bedtime

2. Make a second list of the things you would like to see become habits. 

 -  (Having a dinner plan!) I always get more accomplished when I know what's for dinner or have it partly prepped.

 - ( Laundry Schedule) - do a load a day or do it twice a week, but do it faithfully, don't let it overwhelm you. 

 - ( Make your bed every morning) 

 -  (Get dressed) Science proves it - the way you dress effects your mood and actions. 

3. Put yourself into bootcamp. Read Charlotte Mason's quote again. Good habits are pleasurable. Once you make it a routine of doing laundry every Monday and Thursday you will automatically start gathering laundry on Monday morning. The results will be not just amazing, but organic. You might not even realize when bootcamp ends and when consistency and absent minded habit begins. 

A Note on Routines:

Keeping routines in place in the home create checkpoints. Moments of affirmation of belonging, trust, and confidence. It's a huge need in a child's life. Children don't need to be in the know about everything that is going on in the adult world, but they do need to have the security that the adult world is watching out for them. Checkpoints can be as simple as a family dinner every Tuesday. A story and kiss before bed. Mom's mini van picking them up from school every day at 3:30pm. 

Great checkpoints for adults are weekly calendar meetings with your spouse (a time for looking at the weeks schedule), Praying together before bed each night, Eating dinner at 6:00 each night (or specific nights)

Distractions

Before you get to far into this you will be abruptly reminded of other things you would rather be doing. So be prepared by knowing what your main distractions are.
A phone
Social Media
Television
Needy People
First I'd like to say, put the phone down. Don't carry it around the house with you. Find a central spot and set it down. Stop checking it every five minutes. Stop making space in your life for the people who don't matter. If you have a television show you like to watch, set that as a checkpoint, have your family join you. If you have 2 or 3 shows you like to watch you might want to reevaluate your time and priorities.
One more thing that becomes a huge distraction are jobs you don't want to do. Don't put off a job you don't want to do until last as it will bog you down mentally. It will nag at you and you will work slower and be more inclined to be agitated or unhappy.

I'd love to hear some of your habits and routines. Do you do well in this area? Did you realize that you had so many good habits in place already? 

Sarah