I hear the word “uncertainty” everywhere. Stock market fluctuations, job numbers. There are even questions regarding what keeps us healthy and what imperils us.
In a world that can feel very unpredictable, the simplest way to resist the anxiety that comes with uncertainty is to focus on our daily routines. The sheer mundaneness of the solution is the reason for its magic. Daily routines make our world predictable. If I go to the same coffee shop each morning, and the barista (if it’s swanky) or clerk (if it is a corner 7-Eleven) passes me the same drink I have every day, and I get home at night unscathed, my mind is likely to tell me the next time I start my day with the same routine, there is a good possibility of ending the day without anything bad happening.
It’s as if the external practice of repeating a daily behavior cues us to perceive our world as more predictable. Even better, our routine can sow the seeds of optimism. A life that is predictable is also one that has a future.
We tend to overlook this minor player in our mental health toolbox. We dress up routine in fancy clothes and think that a healthy routine has to be unusual, like drinking green kale power shakes that taste like chalk or taking time out from our regular life while sitting on a yoga mat. I have nothing against green power shakes and yoga, but they are often difficult to sustain as long-term routines that create predictability.
Likewise, people tell me that a week at an all-inclusive resort without routine is their panacea for a stressful life. While I like beach time like everyone else, if we spend endless time without structure, we usually fall into depressing patterns of substance abuse or the scourge of meaninglessness. A short vacation from our daily grind is one thing. A life without any structure puts our mental health at risk.
Routines are the patterned interactions we repeat daily, weekly, or over a longer period of time. They needn’t be individually motivated. Family routines impose pleasant expectations on an entire family, just as workplace routines ensure that we know what’s expected of us without a lot of daily ambiguity. It’s that lack of ambiguity that we need to feel safe. Little wonder that after a natural disaster, one of the most important mental health interventions is to return people to their routines, whether that is children attending school or faith-based activities such as attending daily prayers.
Remove routine from one’s home or workplace, and the result is usually stress and disorder. I’m not saying that unstructured time and space for creativity need to be taken away and replaced with repetition. I’m simply saying that the science of stress management reminds us that precarious schedules interfere with establishing a balance between our work and home lives.
According to recent research by Daniel Schneider and Kristen Harknett (2019) at the University of California-Berkeley, precarious and unpredictable schedules interrupt our sleep and increase psychological stress, which can actually make us more unhappy. Even Stephen King attributes his productivity to maintaining exactly the same routine every day: finding his way to his desk to write regardless of how inspired he feels. While a break in our routine can help us gain some helpful perspective on our lives, it’s not a state we should be in for too long. Little wonder that people who are unemployed and lack daily structure tend to report higher rates of mental health disorders. In contrast, a regular work schedule provides employees with time protected from work and the ability to plan social time. A routine that is forced upon us can even be an antidote for loneliness and trauma.
Do you have enough routine in your life? Consider the following statements. The more of these you answer “yes” to, the more likely your daily routines are to have a positive impact on your well-being, especially when life becomes plagued by uncertainty.
Routine may not seem like a profound intervention, but it is a simple and easily achieved mental health strategy. It works largely because it removes the noisy uncertainty of having to make endless decisions that matter. It’s enough trouble worrying about interest rates and job security. We shouldn’t have to also use up psychological energy thinking about what coffee to drink in the morning or where to buy it.
by Michael Ungar Ph.D.
Source: psychologytoday.com
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