Wake up. Walk the dog. Feed the dog. Make coffee. Pack lunch. Eat breakfast. Get ready. Drive to work. Work. Drive home. Spend time with family. Dinner. Bed.

Routines make it easy to know what to do or what’s coming up next or how your day will generally flow. This is especially true for babies and kids. In order to help them feel safe, routines are great for helping kids understand the world and what’s going on, especially when there’s so much we can’t control.

But what happens when routines are changed? Some routines aren’t necessarily all good and maybe some need to change for the better. You might have some bad habits that have been happening so long they are part of your routine. Late night snacks. Skipping workouts. You know, things you know you arent’ healthy, but do them anyway.

The 2020 pandemic has changed routines for most of us, for better or for worse. Many have been able to spend more time at home with family, which hopefully has been a positive change of routine. Being home at the same time every day, eating dinner together every night. Going for more walks and spending more time doing fun activities.

Working from home has been another major shift in routine for many of us and depending on what that looks like, again, it could be positive or negative.

It’s been six months since everything got turned pretty much upside down in our society. I hope we can all reflect on how things are different now and recalibrate our perspectives so we can all continue to improve as we start to close in on the end of the year. With so much uncertainty, let’s not take for granted the things that matter most.

Go forth.