Routines

Routines in our daily lives have multiple benefits, including encouraging healthy habits, improving productivity and academic success, improving independence and confidence, enhancing social skills, developing emotional resilience, improving time management, reducing anxiety, managing stress, and creating connectivity.

Yep, that is a long-winded list that could go on even more. Routines can benefit any area in your life where you would like to improve or grow. So, the next question then is, how do routines magically free you up to develop more creativity and growth?

When you implement a new routine, several things happen:

1) You remove decision fatigue

            Increased clarity and consistency, not focusing on what to do next

2) Train your brain to start focus mode faster

            Trained the brain on where to focus to improve concentration

3)Protect your priorities from distractions

            Similar to boundaries, requiring less willpower

4) Turn efforts into habits

Intentional focus turns into habits through repetition, and improvement is seen in practice over

motivation

5) Create measurable progress

            Repeated daily and weekly results are visible, improving skill  and confidence

6) Stabilize focus during stress/fatigue

            Create a structured default path to follow even when stressed or fatigued.

7) Align your actions with long-term goals

            Create a path to join intent with outcome through repetitive focus on goals

A mentor once suggested that, between semesters, I read or learn something new that was not school-related when I was in one of the earliest classes in my master's program. I took up her advice, and four years later, it is a part of my routine.

The first routine to develop out of this was reading a new book between each semester that was neither school-related nor fiction. My reading list has grown exponentially, and I look for new topics and books to order so I can read them between semesters. This routine has led me into multiple themes and genres, and I am constantly on the lookout for a new read. I am now visualizing the office of my dreams because I have run out of room on my bookcase, desk, and shelves.

Another routine that has developed out of this is a daily gratitude journal, personal journaling, a year of daily Stoic journaling, and now morning pages. Each one has built on the other, and now my morning routine has evolved into still writing all of those while my three furry companions are in my lap, or instigating playtime while I write.

What is a routine you have that helps you in life?

~ Missy

Weekends

Some weekends, I look forward to relaxing and taking some downtime after a hectic week. Others become an opportunity to check times off a to-do list. For me, day one of this weekend was a combination of both. I worked steadily this morning into the afternoon to get my “chores” done around that house and to accomplish the things on my list.

Once my weekend self-appointed work was done, it was time for quality time for the littles. Teddy and Afina both require their allotted attention and cuddle time. Sometimes they share pretty well, sometimes not so much. Today, they are ok with sharing my lap or personal space.

I have learned to study, write papers, journal, and squeeze in some leisurely reading with the little heaters sharing my space. They have also managed to attend Zoom meetings incognito on my lap and recognize the sign-off language. Teddy adorably pops his head up to say goodbye and to remind me how well behaved he was, and now he should get a snackie pooh.

I do say that I would be lost without them and am grateful for their companionship and love. They are gentle reminders to take a break from the stress of the daily hustle and bustle. Are your furry companions a distraction when working or a comforting presence?

~ Missy

Journey

The journey to get here has been a long one, traversing multiple phases and layers in this life. Some wonderful and some not so wonderful. Some are self-directed, and others are less so—all a part of the testimony.

Up until I began working on my master’s degree, I had looked at my journey as a set point in time, a horrific event, one to continue from. One thing I now realize is that my journey began with my first breath and will not end until my last, fifty years from now as a centenarian. We know that our last thought and breath is coming, but we obstinately ignore it through most of our lives. I have set my mind to make sure each and every one of my dreams manifests as I dance towards that centenarian finish line.

What got me here through all those good and not so good parts of this journey? My educated and philosophical self will tell you, mindset. The self before I learned what mindset was would say she told herself, “This will pass,” ”It will not go on forever,” “I’d count my breathes to slow my mind or heart,” “When you wake up, tomorrow is a new day,” “I’d listen to music on my headphones,” “It does not matter, they are not important” I just shrugged it off and kept going. Sometimes effortlessly and others again less so.

So, here we go on another tangent in this journey. I can not wait to see the wonders that are about to happen! Do you know you can change your mindset? If you could go anywhere, would you go? If you could be anything, what would you be?

~ Missy

Welcome!

Welcome to my website!

I have been working on it for a few months now. The idea sprouted when I began organizing all the poems I have written in notebooks, electronic journals, napkins, and as text messages I’d send to myself when I didn't have paper handy. I have a bunch of them organized in my writing application, finding a stray here and there once in a while. I thought I’d wait to publish my website until I got them all organized, but that is taking longer than I thought. I got the idea to make a visual background for each one once I started building the website. Kinda what it looked like or felt in my mind's eye as I was writing them is becoming two types of art in one, visual and poetry. So, I figured I had better get this published because I keep coming up with ideas that drag me in another direction. I have multiple projects brewing right now and sometimes feel like a barista trying to complete five different orders at once.

My life is busy, the last two of those with me as a student in a doctoral program. I am currently in the dissertation phase of the program, so I spend a lot of time writing. I also dedicate an hour or two each morning to journaling, Stoic philosophical journaling & practice, and writing for personal growth. Somewhere in between all that writing, I work out several times a week to keep my body and mind in shape, so I can keep doing all the things I love for the next forty years.

I also work with students in clinical laboratory science programs to improve their performance and educational outcomes, and to assist them in preparing for national certification exams once they have graduated. I hope you will join me on this next adventure, I am adding to the wonderfully hectic life I live with my furry companions. I hope you will enjoy following along on the rest of the journey.

~ Missy