Ditch stress by shaking up your routine
News flash, we are all super stressed out.
Okay, not a news flash. It’s actually pretty well documented just how stressed out most of us are these days.
There happens to be a ton of advice on how to combat this stress.
The advice is pretty standard and goes a like this: Work out more, eat less, use your vacation days to find a hobby while you are slowing down to enjoy the view and find any and all means to chillax.
Although sound advice, the reality is it just feels a little like one more thing to add to our ever growing to-do lists. “#11 – Figure out how to stop stressing out.”
So what is the average person to do?
I have always specialized in deviating from the norm. I have never been a fan of anything considered normal or conventional.
Outwardly I look like a pretty average working Mom, but inside I am just bursting with weird.
I have found that you can ditch stress and increase your average intake of fun by simply shaking up your routine.
Don’t you remember how awesome it was as a kid when your parents would do something out of the ordinary?
Maybe they let you stay up late on a school night or perhaps you had ice cream for dinner. There was something magical about breaking from the routine…and that remains my go to activity for managing stress today.
There is something oddly comforting and empowering about tweaking the average into the unusual.
So here are 5 ways I like to shake things up:
- Take the long way home – It may sound counterproductive, but choosing to take the scenic route, whether on your way to or from work can feel incredibly refreshing. You are no longer a victim of traffic; you have chosen to enjoy the scenery.
- Pillow forts make watching TV a grander event – Talk about fun for the whole family! Transform your family room and enjoy an evening among the pillows, blankets and laughter.
- Bake something – You don’t need to scratch bake, just buy a roll of cookies at the store and toss them in. The effect will be the same for you and your family. It is impossible to be grumpy or stressed out in a house that smells like fresh baked cookies.
- Make any night game night! – Ditch the TV and video games and play Monopoly as a family…extra points if you do this while eating dinner.
- Embrace tardiness – If you are like most parents you wish you had more ‘moments’ with your kids. Stop waiting for those to happen and make them happen. Make pancakes and eat at the table instead of rushing everyone out the door in the morning. Stop for donuts. Being late once in a while will not be the end of their worlds or yours.
Please note that these work for me, but may not work for you.
I encourage you to explore ways to step outside the box with your own family.
Feel free to share your own weird ways with me below in the comments!
Shake things up indeed!
Can totally agree with your assertions, changing routine once in a while has a way of shifting our perspectives, allowing us to view things in different right, plod our creativity and definitely improve our happiness levels.
It does make life fun and worth every moment 🙂
I like fellow TeamEOD writer Suzanne’s ideas, although my problem is that I LOVE routine. I’m most comfortable when things are the same day after day after day. It makes it very hard for me to break out of that mold, but every time I do, it’s so much fun and certainly paves the way for lasting family memories. Thanks for reading, Simon!
Thanks @Simon, it can be scary for those of us who like to live more consistently, but I have found that the fun aspect of the shakeup is worth it! Thanks for stopping by!
When our kids were younger we occasionally had what we referred to as a Rude Supper.
The basic idea was to break as many dinner table rules as possible. Chew with your mouth open, talk with your mouth full, reach across the table for something, burp if you can manage it and certainly don’t appologize! The kids thought it was hysterical seeing Mom and Dad doing everything they’d said not to do.
The point of the exercise was threefold:
1. you can’t break the rules if you don’t know what they are to begin with (this is like a crazy exam after the lessons are learned).
2. rude suppers only happen after an extended period of using good manners (rewarding good behaviour seems to work much better than punishing for bad behaviour).
3. yes, shaking things up is just plain fun.
That sounds like a blast, BN….although I bet I would find myself getting out of hand. LOL. Thanks for the great suggestion!
OMG I am totally stealing the rude supper idea! I love it! Thank you so much for sharing!
Two words for you: Pillow Fight. It’s fun, you get to work out some aggression, and I LOVE the sound of Tori’s uncontrollable giggle. It’s been a long time though….maybe tonight’s the night. LOL.
There is NOTHING wrong with a good old fashioned pillow fight or pillow fort…Pillows are all okay in my view LOL.
Pillow Forts are awesome!
I try to break routine every now and then. Once a few months ago I picked my kids up from school and took them to a waterfall about an hour away, just coz. They were ecstatic!
I’ve found it’s in those moments when you break routine, like everyone have breakfast in mum’s bed, or kids choose what they want for dinner, little things like that, that kids open up a lot and you develop more of a relationship with them too.
Hi Kylie,
I love that idea too, just going somewhere out of the norm. Now that is a memory that will stand a lifetime! I could not agree with you more and thank you for stopping by!