Reinventing Our Routines
Hello Hello! I’ve missed connecting with you all in written form. Happy Fall! Welcome to the season change.
As I was thinking about what to write about today, I couldn’t help but think about a conversation I’ve had countless times in the clinic in the last few weeks. This conversation centers on how emotional wellbeing and energy levels are so intertwined with daylight and outside time.
The days have been getting shorter ever since the summer solstice in June but I rarely notice this shift until we are well into October and possibly November and especially when Daylight savings kicks in. Here in Delaware, we took an abrupt dive into darker, cooler, rainy days immediately following a stunning Labor Day weekend. This left me feeling confused at first about why I was feeling exhausted and sleeping thru my 7:15 pilates class I’ve been a regular at for months! Eventually I started to connect the dots and realized that I better start thinking about upping my Vitamin D and figuring out ways to get morning light into my life if I want to avoid the seasonal slump of energy and mild depression that show up every year as we near the shortest, darkest days in December.
Many of my clients were noticing this seemingly abrupt shift in their energy as well. I think it is often a slower creep into darkness which is harder to notice until we are already stuck in the winter blues. However, my experience this past month reminded me of how important it is to re-evaluate our routines periodically.
If you’ve been following me for any time, you know a lot of what my work centers on is intentionality and mindfulness. That tuning into our bodies to listen so that we know what we need. I think our morning routines are a great place to start and ask ourselves 2 questions.
First, ask yourself how your energy has been in the first half of the day. You may have to pause and check in a few times to see how it's going. Are you feeling great? Easily waking to your alarm or even without one? Are you suddenly finding it harder to get up and motivated? Does it seem like you are running late or more forgetful than you were a few weeks ago? Do you need an extra cup of coffee and it still feels like you are dragging? All of these questions will give you some insight into how things are going. If any of these things are feeling off or you have noticed some shifts into the wrong direction- then consider asking yourself question 2.
What can I add to or remove from my routine? For me this showed up as switching to a later pilates class, being intentional about getting out for walks earlier in the day, using artificial light on days when it is super cloudy, and also pushing back my wake up time by 15 minutes. This is what has worked for me. It is also a work in progress to re-evaluate periodically to see if something is working or not. You have your own wisdom about what you need. When I asked this question to one of my clients- she immediately knew that she wanted to prioritize getting out to the beach a couple times a week to see the sunrise. I would have never come up with that idea for her in a million years! For yet another, it is working towards building an early morning ritual for before her kids wake up. She knows in her bones that this just makes sense. There are infinite possibilities for what your morning could look like.
So as we transition into this season change, I invite you to check in and then re-evaluate if your routine is still serving you in the best, most fulfilling way possible. This is both mindful and intentionality in practice.
And for those of you as sensitive to the light shifts as me, just remember the days start getting longer at the end of December! We don’t have too much farther to go!
-Dr. Megan Anderson
