A Seasonal Approach to Designing Daily Routines

And no, morning cold plunges didn't make the list.

At the end of 2023, I entered what felt somewhat like my "rebellious era."

Instead of sharing the holiday season with family and friends, I chose to escape to the unknown lands of Patagonia, Chile, for an 8-day running retreat with Aire Libre, celebrating Christmas Day with strangers at a rooftop pool and ringing in the new year with 19 strangers turned lifelong friends.

I rang in my 34th birthday, rejecting all Capricorn tendencies to plan a lavish celebration and instead opted for pajama potluck-style brunch with my girlies. I can't remember the last time I spent the entire day in pj's, and always cozy gear will be an ongoing, protected weekend experience this year. These PJs are my absolute faves and worth the investment for a good night's sleep.

Speaking of sleep, dialing in building better sleep habits is a top priority. For years I slept like trash, waking up more exhausted than I went to bed which forced me to not only examine “what keeps me up at night” but also my behaviors around sleep. Comment below if you want more “Pillow Talk” in a future issue.

And here we are, 23 days into the new year, and I've yet to make a vision board, pick a word to live into for the year, or set my quarterly goals (over traditional yearly goals — let’s put a pin in that conversation for now).

It's not that I'm not looking forward to all 2024 holds. Quite the contrary as I woke up January 1st with an excited wonder of how the next 365 days would unfold, but if there's one major lesson I've learned through life's heartbreak is there’s more out of my control than in my control and measuring success, happiness, and self-worth based on the "best-case scenario" sets a pretty high bar. At the end of the day, I'm just a girl striving to do her best from one moment to the next. As such, my target on the end-of-year finish line is less about what I've achieved and more about how I felt along the journey to the finish line. Fully trusting what will come to fruition if I allow my values to guide my steps.

LET WINTER BE WINTER

A human I've come to admire dearly recently shared her similar feelings of no longer trying to make winter summer and, instead, leaning into “winter work” or what I know as living seasonally. Taking cues from nature to flow with the year's rhythms instead of fighting them; eating in-season foods, participating in seasonal activities, and adapting my routines to complement what the elements express. Letting winter be winter in all of its hibernating, rejuvenating, introspective glory — heavy on the introspection, especially in reimagining the routines that make me feel ten toes down for team Kayla.

REIMAGINING PERSONAL ROUTINES

Routine (n) — a sequence of actions regularly followed.

The start of the New Year brings the Fresh Start Effect, “a psychological phenomenon that refers to the increased motivation and renewed energy that people often feel at the start of a new time-based milestone” or more simply, the feeling of a clean slate. Although I can't say the clock striking midnight on January 1st makes me feel like the old me was wiped away, it does carry a renewed sense of possibility, having gained 365 days of experience to extract learnings for the future.

A learning at the top of the list: designing adaptable routines. Pivoting from a corporate job to my first year in full-time solopreneuriship last year, not by choice -- I was laid off from my full-time job as a Digital Coach for Weight Watchers in the spring of 2022, brought daily unpredictability. And freeing as a daily open schedule may sound for some, this Capricorn loves structure, stability, consistency, and rhythm, so you can imagine how much time I spent trying to create the "perfect routine" — TOO MUCH with a whole lotta unnecessary anxiety for my ever-changing schedule.

With endless sources of inspiration and science-supported recommendations on how to design your day for health, optimization, and success, whatever the lived goal, in both my personal experience and as a train behavior change coach, I've recognized the habitual actions that have the most significant impact are those that are;

1. Personalized to your needs

2. Relevant to your lifestyle

It took about 60 seconds of playback on last year's countless days of flipping a switch from calm to chaos because I'd overslept, throwing off my entire curated flow in my commitment to check off all the morning routine things because the “wellness aesthetic” a must be achieved for success, only to move through the day rush, anxious, and unsettled. Finally, one morning when I caught myself on the verge of another tailspin; I looked myself in the mirror and asked, "Kayla, how do you want to feel today? What do you need to embody [feeling] today? What would keep you from experiencing [feeling?]", releasing the pressure of how my day "should be" and take action in designing systems that support showing up for my star player, me.

So, in this winter season of introspective enlightenment, I've embraced a feeling-based approach for a more personalized experience. Tossing prescribed plans and instead letting "What do I need today to feel most taken care of?" be the guiding question I seek to answer from the moment my morning alarm stirs me awake to Claire de Lune gently until my Deep Sleep Pillow Spray carries off me into a deep slumber.

Here's an overview of how feelings framework my current daily routines as a solopreneur, often needing a CNS reset and boundary-setting systems for a healthy hustle.

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5:30 AM | Wake up

6:15-7:15 AM | desired feeling: rooted — FURTHER Training (run, lift)

7: 30-8:30 AM | desired feeling: calm — Shift Practice (a term I created for behaviors that regulate my central nervous system post-workout adrenaline — journal, read, breakfast)

9:00 AM | Work Start

12:00 PM | desired feeling: rejuvenated — Midday Check-In (5 min full body stretch, mindless chores)

4:30 PM | Work End

5:00 PM | desired feeling: decompress — Shutdown Shift (a term coined by Calvin to, — check the mail, go for a walk)

9:00 PM | desired feeling: ease — Evening Wind Down (phone on DND, layout next day needs, bedtime rituals)

10:00 PM | Bedtime

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If there's something here you find that may be useful to add to your daily hustle, take it.

If my framework makes you feel overwhelmed or in comparison mode, leave it.

As long as you have 1-3 actions throughout your day that lead back to you, that's a routine to keep with you in any season.