As I worked through the embodied healing workbook,I thought about my current routine because routines can help prevent mood episodes and lessen the intensity of existing ones. I am pretty disciplined about my wake-up time at 4 am. Though I’m naturally a night owl, I enjoy waking up before my daughter and getting a lot done. But sometimes, I’m not disciplined with the use of early morning hours and fall asleep on the couch. I hate it when I do that!

As a person with narcolepsy, Bipolar, and PTSD, I know that sleep hygiene is a necessity. Though I have a pretty stable wake-up time, I do vary when I go to bed. This will get worse in the weeks to come as my daughter has a temporary job that requires me to drive a lot at night out to the countryside. I’m hoping this change in my routine does not cause me too many problems. But, even if it does, I can go to bed at a set time to get in enough hours of sleep, collectively, even if they are broken for a few weeks (about a month). I’m also nervous because I don’t see well in the dark and I don’t drive at night a lot. In fact, I don’t really like driving much at all these days and have thought about giving my daughter my car as I rarely leave my bubble. But anyway, back to discipline and routine.

I think my biggest struggle surrounds meal times. I don’t like to feel like I have to go into the kitchen and prepare something every day. And, when I meal prep, there are some things I won’t eat after a day in the fridge. Like fish or shrimp. Gross. Though I like cooking, when things actually turn out tasty, I do not like feeling like I’m always in the kitchen so I need to figure out how to handle mealtimes. When I was a little girl, I stayed with my grandparents a lot and they had set mealtimes and every day was the same. I don’t know if I could be that disciplined.

Sometimes I struggle with my hygiene which is something I never imagined I would struggle with in life. I sometimes feel overstimulated by showers and they hurt so I will get pretty gross to avoid getting wet. Sometimes I go to stores with my greasy hair sticking up. Recently, I had to cut my hair due to knots from not taking care of it. I really just wanted to shave it off. So, hygiene is something I need to get on a schedule-even if it hurts or feels overwhelming. I need to take care of myself and take care to look decent before leaving home. Not planning on that today though-I have to take my daughter to work this evening and I plan to exercise so I figured it’s ok to drive around with messy hair. Maybe start tomorrow?

I have somewhat of a morning wake-up routine in that I read prayers and work in my gratitude journal that I designed. I would like to expand morning activities and plan a winding-down routine before bedtime. I don’t really pray at night other than my rambling to God prayers as I pass out. I’m sure God understands. I don’t even think I finish some of my prayers. I just pass out. When I’m ready to sleep, my body literally shuts down.

So, this week, I am going to create a new routine for me to follow. It will be complicated because of my daughter’s seasonal job in the countryside, but I’m hoping that I can follow it 100% once her gig is over. I would like to be more disciplined like I was when I worked. I had alarms set for everything as everything we did at work was measured. I was very precise. In my personal life, not so much.

I also want to read more. I haven’t been able to read very much due to concentration issues so I plan on building in study time.

Well, I have to take my daughter to work and figure out what I’m going to make for dinner.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you find a routine that helps you stay balanced.