Why Maintaining Your Routine is a Super Power During Recovery

Feb 19

Life is unpredictable, and our journey is often interrupted by unexpected events. Whether it's recovering from illness or injury, or adjusting to different environments while traveling, these interruptions can impact our regular movement and exercise routines. Why is it so important to maintain these routines as best we can even during such times? Let's explore the reasons…

1. Honoring Your Commitment to Self-Care:

You've invested time and effort to carve out space in your life for your routine, a testament to prioritizing your well-being. Disregarding this dedicated time because your usual activities aren't possible overlooks the significance of this commitment. It's about respecting the decision to prioritize yourself, regardless of the form it takes.

2. Preserving the Habit:

Building a habit requires consistency and dedication. You've trained yourself to incorporate movement into your life at specific times and days. Breaking this routine can undo the hard work you've put into making it a seamless part of your life. Maintaining the routine, even in an altered form, helps preserve this valuable habit.

3. Prioritizing Mental and Physical Health:

The core purpose of your routine is to focus on your mental and physical health and let’s be real - our movement practice contributes to a feeling of emotional balance for most of us. Doing away with movement altogether during injury or schedule changes can be a drastic step and, in most cases, an unnecessary one. The specific activities – whether they are intense workouts or more restorative movements – are secondary to the intention of nurturing our mental and physical health in times like these. Adapting your routine to include mobility exercises, gentle yoga, or physical therapy during recovery periods still serves this fundamental goal.

4. Building Resilience:

Honoring your routine, even with modifications for restorative or rehabilitative movements, equips you to handle life's unexpected challenges. It prevents the need to 'restart' your fitness habit from scratch after a break. Moreover, this approach helps you recover and bounce back more quickly, reinforcing your resilience in all areas of your life. Understanding the dynamics of adapting in the midst of change for the purpose of “coming back strong” builds grit and resilience that can make future challenges easier.

5. Sharpening Adaptation as a life skill

Having the presence of mind to switch gears when necessary, the patience to scale back on intensity, and the creativity to craft a new set of movements that better serves your current needs are all part of being a human that adapts in healthy ways to changes. The skill of adaptation is what helps us thrive during challenging times in all facets of our lives. Cultivating the skill of adapting well is worthy of effort as it will make obstacles opportunities to grow from and helps us continue to live life fully when things don’t go according to plan.

Adapting your routine during recovery or when faced with challenges doesn't mean stepping away from your commitment to health. It means reshaping your practice to meet your current needs, ensuring that you stay connected to the essence of your routine: self-care, habit maintenance, health prioritization, and resilience building. Embrace the flexibility in your routine as a strength, not a setback.

Have questions about how to adapt your routine or need personalized advice?

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