Ritual

I've found that incorporating rituals into my day helps me to stay on track. I've felt out of sorts for awhile. I think traveling and being away from home has taken a toll on me and I have not incorporated ritual into my life. This morning I woke up motivated to introduce order into my life. I am sure that the advent of daylight savings time combined with my desire to be productive and accomplish goals has pushed me into this direction. I feel energized and rejuvenated. I've decided that every morning I will shower before taking my son to daycare, this is a total change because usually I crawl out of bed throw on the sweats and drop him off. When I return home I tend to dilly dally and 8:30 becomes noon before I know it and I've accomplished very little. By being ready to tackle my day when I return from daycare I will be more efficient.

I also plan to incorporate a morning cup of herbal tea to my ritual. I love my chocolate mint truffle rooibois tea and can enjoy it fairly quickly in the morning. I took this photo of my kettle boiling because I think it is beautiful and despite the adage that "a watched pot never boils" using the quick boil feature on my frigidaire gallery range I am able to do just that. I can take five minutes to let my tea seep and enjoy the sweet delicate taste of my tea and it kills two birds with one stone, I am both relaxed and ready for the day and it satiates my desire for sweet things.

I am also adding exercise to my ritual. I enjoy exercising with my son so I will wait until the afternoons to exercise- at least for now. That may change but at the moment I am committing myself to exercise. And finally, although I've said this on numerous occasions, I am really going to start utilizing my jacuzzi tub. To be honest I've avoided using it because it is a serious job to clean it. It is the deepest tub I've ever seen, so deep in fact that when I was pregnant I had to get my husband to do the cleaning duty. Unfortunately, no such luck now, he would balk if I so much as whispered "can you clean the tub for me?"

I think the work is worth the reward because the massage jets are so soothing and will be a perfect nightcap for my days. And speaking of nightcaps, I think I am also going to commit to going to bed by 10 or 11 every night. It is my hope that incorporating rituals into my life will help me stay and track and since they are so simple I can even do them when I am away from home. I'll let you know how it goes and in the meantime, I'd love to hear about your rituals. What do you do to take care of yourself?


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Comments

Krystal Grant said…
Great post. I need rituals in my life to because as of now I don't have any that I stick to. Going to bed by 10 pm is an excellent idea. I try to do it, but somehow reality TV sucks me in and before you know it, it's midnight. You've given me something to think about.
Amarie said…
Sounds like a plan! I'm a creature of habit, myself, and get all whacky and irritated when I have to digress from my routine - especially if it isn't voluntary.
jmt said…
Take care of myself?? Hmmmm. I didn't know that existed after kids. ;) I get my "treats" in while I'm at work I suppose. And I tend to cut exercising out of the equation when winter hits. Too cold to run outside! That's a treat in itself.
Erin said…
Great ideas! I've been trying to put some more ritual in my life lately, too. I'm pretty tired from life with a baby and a toddler, but I find it does help me feel better to have a routine.
Sherri said…
I love rituals. I'll take as many as I can. But the only ones I definitely have is my one wonderful cup of coffee in the am and going to bed by 10 pm. I wish I could say that I keep exercise a ritual but I would be lying if I did:)
Personally, the only way I survive is by keeping my family on a schedule! I think you'll love the sense of order a routine brings!
strokeofliving said…
Let's see rituals, I am pretty good about breakfast these days. My favorite morning meal to prepare is old fashioned oatmeal. Another would be flossing twice per day and my last recent ritual would be meditating at the close of my day. Right now it's only about 30 minutes, I'd like to ramp it up to 45 and eventually 60 minutes. That's about it for now. Thanks for this post.
Live.Love.Eat said…
Just reading this has made me more relaxed. But maybe that's my problem, I don't have any rituals. Sure, I wake up and in a dash I get in the shower before work but there's no time for something slow and soothing.

The closest I get is using a very fragrant body scrub in the shower everyday along with loofah gloves. Hey, it's a step...

Good luck with your routine. I think the shower thing before hand is a great idea!!
Liz Mays said…
I love rituals too and I've been so hit or miss lately with how I do things that I'm off kilter. I need to get back to rituals.
Barbara said…
Sounds like a great plan. I foresee effective stress management in your future young lady =). Good luck on keeping with it and reaping the rewards!
drollgirl said…
excellent ideas!!! you are so busy! i don't have kids so my life is probably a bit simpler than yours. but rituals DO make things a bit more manageable, or at least it seems like it!

i have a million rituals! a million! ok, not a million, but many. i won't bore you with all of them, but i like the ones that calm me down when i am fritzing.
alright now, if I see you on Twitter after 10:30 I'm putting you on blast!! haha!
oh and to answer your question I make water goals every day (8+ glasses) and stick to it, I get plenty of rest and I take good care of my skin. I also have incorporated eating 3 vegetarian meals each week.
Ditto to all the above. Traveling can become exhausting and you do need some sense of routine to make you feel comfy at home and back on track.

Just stopping in to say from my "break."

Toodles!
Radical Selfie said…
Good for you, Mama! I love it! I try to incorporate rituals where I can and well. My hubs and I have a nightly meditation, and that's one ritual that I absolutely love. I'm with you on the tea in the morning tip too. I'm Jamaican, so it has been deeply ingrained in me to drink tea in the mornings or face scary grandma-inflicted guilt stuff!!

And WOW! in bed by 10 or 11, that's what dreams are made of, Sis!

Best to you on your ritual-incorporating journey!
Genny said…
A morning cup of herbal tea sounds like a good thing!
Petula said…
Your tea and your tub sound yummy! I really need to do better at incorporating the things I want to do for myself daily. I normally have my cup of coffee in the morning, but sometimes it has to be after I return from getting the two middle children off to school. I have a hot drink ongoing throughout the day as a little treat. Need to do the herbal thing more instead of regular tea and coffee.

I most definitely need to fit my yoga in. I've been doing maybe five or 10 quick minutes, but I wanna get in at least 20 minutes today with a little strength training.

Going to bed at a decent time needs to be a priority for me too. Getting to sleep at 1 or after isn't working especially when I need to be up at 5:30. Good luck with taking care of yourself... I think I'll fix myself another cup of tea in honor of rituals! :)
Anonymous said…
I don't think I have any rituals. But then when I'm exhausted I just don't do anything. I like being busy because I feel productive. Maybe I'm so used to what I do daily that I don't see anything as a ritual. I'll start paying more close attention and see what I can do for me on a daily basis to know it's for me and me only. Great Post gurlie.
Unknown said…
Rituals and schedules are so important, right. Thanks for the inspiration.

Oh, and doesn't it suck that husbands won't do what they did when you were pregnant?

Winks & Smiles,
Wifey

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