Structure your Life to Encourage Calm in 5 Simple Ways
Do you often find yourself wishing you had a whole lot more calm in your life? The secret is to get more structure — specifically the type that encourages you to feel more relaxed.
Many people actively resist structure. It can feel tedious and rigid, right? Looking at it another way can be a game-changer.
What if structure can help you set boundaries that make it easier to cope with stress? This is highly important if you don't have a lot of external structure to keep you on track.
Structure is super important for staying calm and focused. Having a plan for how you'll do things can bring a lot more peace in your life. Building more structure is your secret weapon for feeling less stressed!
Structure is also hugely important if you're struggling with anxiety. Changing your habits and routine can be super challenging, but it can help you take more control of your emotions.
If you're often feeling a major sense of chaos and barely any calm, how do you switch things up?
Here's how to get more structure in your day to day life.
Create Intent In Your Morning Routine
How do you feel when you first wake up in the morning? If it's challenging to get out of bed every day, creating an intentional morning routine can be a game-changer.
This involves spending a little bit of time every morning doing something to fuel your mind or body (or a bit of both). Meditation, journaling, adult coloring, prayer, reading, and gentle exercise are all great examples of things you can add to an intentional morning routine.
The idea is that it will set an intent for the rest of your day and get things off to a less crazy start.
Plan Your Week On Sundays
Planning out your week beforehand saves a ton of stress and time.
Doing this on Sundays helps you create a structure for what needs to be done that week and how to manage your time to get it done without a whole heap of stress. This also includes meal plans and dinner ideas.
Your weekly plan won't necessarily be set in stone, though. Life doesn't always go to plan and not sticking to your original plans can feel overwhelming.
This is why it's also smart to firm things up the night before too. That way, you can hit the ground running every day with your task list ready to go each day. If anything needs slotting in or moving to another day, you can move things around but keep your basic to-do list intact.
Your to-do list doesn't have to be jam-packed with tasks. Keeping a realistic to-do list helps you get on top of things without being overwhelming.
If that only extends to a few key items, don't feel super guilty about holding some tasks over to another day, especially while you're finding your feet with a new routine.
Schedule Self Care
Making sure you get plenty of self care in your life is hugely important for creating more calm in your life. It's also key for helping avoid super blurred boundaries between work and home.
When life gets crazy busy, self care can quickly fall by the wayside. Fitting in self care activities when you can is better than nothing but ideally, you need a structure to make it happen regularly.
The best way to make sure you can keep up with your self care routine? Make an appointment with yourself and book it into your calendar. Make it a priority!
Set a Sleep Structure
Getting plenty of sleep is essential for feeling a ton of calm. Not sleeping well can be linked to anxiety and is a super huge factor in feeling stressed and frantic.
One way around this is to implement a sleep structure. This can help you set up a sleep routine that encourages a much greater sense of calm.
Going to bed at a set time every night and giving yourself a bit of time to unwind beforehand is a huge part of this structure. Getting up at roughly the same time in the mornings (even on the weekends, if you can!). Eliminate screens and bright lights 30 minutes to an hour before you get into bed.
Add a Bit of Structure At a Time
When you're adding more structure in your life, it's a good idea to do it gradually. Introducing a lot of structure at once can feel daunting — often to the point that you abandon it altogether.
Finding ways to create more structure in your life is perfect for encouraging more calm and a lot less stress. You can do this in your work, home, and social life. 😘