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The Mysterious Regularly Scheduled Schedule

How to be consistent when you never know when you will start a day

By Victoria L. JankowskiPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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I have been disabled for 17 years now, the reasons and severity are all over the board and constantly changing. What I can do in a given day is about as predictable as the weather, someone from far enough away might be able to find patterns, but in the moment your never quite sure how its going to go. I can have good days where I put 'regular' people to shame with my productivity, or I could wake up with all 4 limbs numb unable to stumble to the bathroom, and that might or might not get better as the day progresses. might wake up at 6:30 am ready to take on the day or I might sleep for 36 hours, and when I went to bed there was no glimmer in favor of either outcome.

So the question arises, how do I plan for that? How do I make sure I eat and take care of regular hygiene much well any other task that might arise? The answer is routines, not to be confused with schedules. I have resolved to build a very basic routine until my basic needs are met and I can then start to handle the more complex resolutions, but first I have to let myself off the hook of the clock, because being mad I didn't get up or go to bed at this time or eat on this schedule is just self defeating.

And while (hopefully) your specific issues might not be as extreme as mine its still a good idea to have these things in place. A late weekend morning or an early flight can through even the most diligent 8 hour sleeper, 6 am waker off beat, and if you have kids, late night fevers or early morning disasters are a thing.

So what do I mean when I say routines? Simply an auto pilot list of things you will do based on an existing habit or action instead of a time. Right now when I get up I might brush my hair, eat and check my email, maybe. My hope for the new year is to solidify those activities II want to get done and then add one thing at a time to the routine so I can have all the basic stuff out of the way leaving me free to either get more done, or not, depending on the day or situation, without feelings of guilt or resentment that it has been days since I did a thing I should have done (don't ask the last time I brushed my teeth, I honestly can not tell you).

You can use this same technique to your advantage, many do already with out realizing it, do you always shower when you get home from work, build on that existing habit. The point is to build habits based on existing things you do regardless of the clock. Doing this not only relieves the stress of the ticking clock but also allows your body to rest on its own time.

I plan on taking a few days with my care taker to out line the things I need to get done, and which ones are most important, and then we will design a plan to implement them into my day. You to should take a few minutes this new year to design a few routines based on existing habits in your every day life, and then build them one habit at a time, adding a new habit once the existing ones are automatic until the basic things come naturally and then you can take that brain power and apply it to your other resolutions without the stress of dealing with the day to day stuff because that's on auto pilot!

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About the Creator

Victoria L. Jankowski

Trying to get better a writing and also express my self! I am a disabled parent and a vegan who is also learning to garden and who has a strong interest in social justice and environmental issues.

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