New School Year, New Daily Routine

Whether or not you are in school, have children in school, work at a school, or have no

involvement with any schools in daily life, this time of year tends to bring an itch for a new routine. In spring, we get the urge to organize our space, declutter, clean, and get ready for summer. By the end of August, we are, as I mentioned before, itching for a revamped routine. As someone who spent 18 years in school, I grew to love the routine of buying a planner, starting new habits, and freshening up my daily routine each fall.

This is the first autumn season in a long time that I haven’t been a student, but I have chosen to engage in the same freshening up that I would if I were starting a new school year. Here are some of my top tips to help you wrap up the summer fun and buckle down for a successful and smooth autumn season.

I want to make a caveat here and say that these tips may not work for everyone. Many

neurodivergent people have been given these tips as recommendations to cope with the symptoms of their diagnosis, often in very invalidating ways. So, I want to acknowledge that these tips may come more easily to some than others. If you find they don’t work for you, that’s okay! Instead, work with your therapist on coming up with a plan best suited to fit your needs.

Write Things Down

This is as simple as it sounds: write things down. I love to have a planner handy, where I keep

track of meetings, due dates for projects or assignments, birthdays, flight information, and anything else I can think of. While many people rely on a digital calendar, I enjoy the mindful act of writing things down and taking the time to fill out each week with intention. If you are not a big fan of the structure of a planner or a calendar, then I would challenge you weekly to make some sort of a to-do list. This can be a deep-cleaning to-do list that you complete on a Saturday morning. Or it can be a work to-do list that takes you a couple of weeks to complete. Don’t underestimate the power of writing something down. Not only

does it give you the drive and motivation to get the task done, but crossing something off the list gives you a sense of accomplishment.

Habit Stack

Pick a habit you have wanted to integrate into your daily routine but have maybe struggled to do so. No need to feel bad, we all have habits we can’t get to stick for whatever reason. Now is the time to try again! Or pick a brand-new habit you haven’t tried yet. To really get our new desired habit to stick, we are going to habit stack. This simply means attaching your new habit to one you already have. For example, I have a habit of getting up to wash my face in the morning, so I have put my affirmations on the mirror and I recite them while I am washing my face. Recently, I also decided I wanted to get better at connecting with family members, so I started making phone calls to siblings and parents on my long

walks to the gym. Take the new habit you want to acquire and attach it to a habit you already have. It minimizes the resistance and makes it easy to integrate the habit into your routine.

Read Each Day

This seems to be the most over-recommended habit ever, but there’s a reason. Reading each day not only keeps your brain sharp and warmed up but also gives your eyes a break from the constant screens we stare at each and every day. Pick something you are interested in! Some people emphasize the importance of reading self-help or personal growth books daily. While I love these books, (I mean, I am a therapist after all) I believe it is more important to find something that you will want to pick up, so it makes the habit easier to complete daily. If you are religious and you make time to study your religious text each day, that’s great! If you want to re-read your favorite young adult series from your teenage

years, go for it. If you are really serious about this personal growth stuff, let me know, I have a handful of books I’ll recommend to you! Find something you will want to read and read it each day. Maybe 10 minutes, maybe half an hour, maybe hours. Whatever you’ve got in you, commit to doing it daily and let your behaviors ebb and flow as needed to find that balance and get the habit to stick.

Move Your Body

I know, I know, I sound like a broken record, or at least the echo of all the broken records out

there telling you to exercise each day. I know it’s not realistic to assume we all have an hour each day to go to the gym. It’s not realistic to assume we all have access to a gym. It’s not even realistic to assume we all have an hour each day to ourselves! So, let me be clear, I am not asking you to power through your difficult circumstance and become a hardcore gym goer no matter what. I am asking you to move your body. If that means dancing while you make dinner, perfect. If that means doing a 10-minute yoga stretch in your pajamas before bed or first thing in the morning, amazing! Just move your body a little each day. And while you are working to establish this habit, you should be directing only positive and loving energy towards your body, no matter your opinions of how it should or shouldn’t be. Our bodies serve us each day, so the least we can do is love them and care for them, no matter the state they are in.

Sleep Better

Sleep is probably the most important and simple thing we can do for our health that most of us tend to overlook. It’s hard to know where to start. I can’t keep up with the trends any more than anyone else can, nor do I know which ones are actually helpful and which aren’t. But we all know what things we do that aren’t best for our sleep. I trust that if I asked you what you do that keeps you from getting good sleep, you would have an answer. For example, I am not good at getting to bed early, which means I am also not good at waking up early. So, I am going to pick one of those things to work on. Naturally, my other habits and routines will shift to compensate for this change, and I will be balancing out my sleep routine in no time. My recommendation is simply this: sleep better. Whatever that means to you. Pick one

thing to work on to better your sleep routine, and remember, this is a good time to habit stack if needed.

There you have it, five simple tips to revamp your routine and freshen your habits. Some people like to wait until January to start working on setting new goals, but now is as good a time as any. Make the most of the present moment, harness the inner motivation we all have towards greatness and progression, and do the work you need to do to be as great and happy as you can be.