Ashley Brown 0:00 [Intro]
Routines are my absolute favorite word, but you either love them or you're working on getting there. And either way, I strongly believe routines can be a springboard for improving your home, yourself and your life. I'm Ashley Brown, and this is the routine and things podcast. In each episode, I'll share practical tips and simple ways for you to consistently live your happiest life one routine at a time. Trust me, you're gonna want to keep listening, because you're well on your way to getting and staying happy.
Ashley Brown 0:46
Hey, girl, I have such a special announcement for you today. Doors to the routine and things accelerator are now open. Finally, get your routines up and running now not later. The routine and things accelerator is a three month group program to help you get your morning and bedtime routines up and running. The core routines needed for you to consistently live a healthy and happy life. Here's the breakdown. In January, you'll learn everything you need to know to successfully incorporate routines into your life, you'll get access to the rock your routine masterclass, which will be taught live and you'll also learn my coveted routine framework for building and maintaining routines. In February, we'll focus specifically on your bedtime routine, helping you create your relaxing routine and put it into practice. So it becomes a staple in your daily life. And in March, we'll work on getting your morning routine up and going. You'll create your ideal morning routine and successfully incorporate it into your life. With a supportive group of women and accountability along the way, you will no longer say you can't stick to your routines. The routine and things accelerator will strengthen your consistency and teach you the art and skill of building and maintaining any routine. A necessary tool for living a healthy and happy life doors are now open but they will close this Saturday January 7. To join us today be sure to head to routineandthings.com/accelerator or click the link in the show notes. I hope to see you inside.
Ashley Brown 2:22
Hey, welcome back for another episode of the routine and things podcast and Happy New Year girl. It is the new year, it is a new energy hopefully. I mean, I love the start of the new year because I feel like for me it brings a new energy not to say that things aren't still happening or life isn't still going and life-ing. But it does have this essence to the New Year that feels so good. It just feels so good. And so I'm super excited to be here with you today, chatting with you. Today, we're going to be focusing on routines that will help you stress less all year long. Oh, is that not the goal? Is that not the goal to be like okay, let me manage my stress this year. Let me stress less this year, let me not be overwhelmed this year, God. Is that not the hope, the prayer, the vision? And so today, I am hoping to help you understand which routines really help you to bring this vision to life. And so let's get into it. So I'm gonna share the two routines that I think are really major and imperative for you to have a part of your life if you want to stress less this year, if you don't want to be so overwhelmed this year, I want you to think about how life felt for you in 2022.
Ashley Brown 3:54
I want for you to think about in like the past, I would even say the past three months, How did life feel? And if you were very much overwhelmed a lot of anxiety, stress to the max, doing a whole bunch of things that's running you ragged, I know you don't want that for this year. I already know, because I know you I know you don't want that. And so with that being said, I'm going to share with you these routines that have really helped me. These routines that have helped other women who I've worked with these two routines specifically, are so imperative that you have a part of your life because they are really foundational for you. And so you may already know what I'm going to say. But the two routines are a morning and a bedtime routine. And I want to share why. So when it comes to managing your stress, there has to be practices that you have in place that allow you to do so, Right? We can't manage stress without something helping us do that. Right. It's like how are we thinking what are we doing? How much are we putting on our plate? What is our energy feeling like?
Ashley Brown 4:59
Do we have enough energy, all of that plays into stress management, are we taking action in ways that are aligning with stress management that are helping to reduce our stress, decrease our stress so that we're not becoming overwhelmed. I think there's a difference between stress and overwhelm, stress is going to happen, like stressors are going to arise, let me say that I don't want to say stress is going to happen, stressors are going to arise, things that come into play that we view as okay, I wish it wasn't happening at this time, or could this not happen just in general, and so that can throw us into anxiety at some points that can cause us to become a little stressed at some points. But you don't have to get to points of overwhelm. Overwhelm is an accumulation of stressors. And I really feel as if we can, or let me phrase it like this, I truly believe that we have the power to not get two points of overwhelm. Now, does it happen? Yes, you're not alone. If you have gotten to points of being overwhelmed, I have to, but what I've learned in my life is like I actually can control if I get to being overwhelmed. Now stress, I can control that too.
Ashley Brown 6:14
But I know that they're going to I know that it's just gonna happen at certain times, and I just have to learn how to manage it. But overwhelm is something entirely different overwhelm. It's like we're about to throw in the towel, I don't want to move a daggone muscle, I just want to go escape retreat, and I don't want to come back out. Nope, don't want to do it. And really overwhelm can cause us to become very unlike ourselves, and cause us to not be and have joy. And I don't want that for you this year. I don't want that to be for you this year, I want more for your life. Because I know you want more for your life, if you're feeling that way. Or if you have felt that way. I don't want you getting back to points of overwhelm, I want you to learn to manage your stress in a better way. And so the two routines that really helped with this are a morning and bedtime routine. And this is directly and indirectly. So a routine can help you reduce your stress through a morning and bedtime routine directly.
Ashley Brown 7:10
So what I mean by directly is, for example, for a bedtime routine, a bedtime routine is helping you to have better rest have better sleep, which gives you the energy and reduces physical stress in your body. So that is a direct correlation is that your bedtime routine is reducing stress. Because you're getting more sleep, which is giving you more energy, it is actually physically reducing stress in your body. It's a direct correlation. The same with a morning routine, or morning routine directly helps you reduce stress that can typically come with the start of a new day. For some of you, you're stressed in the morning because of this anticipation of how the day is going to play out. And what a morning routine can do is help to ground you and reduce stress because you are doing activities or actions that are grounding you in the morning that are giving you a good mindset for the start of your day where you're not so much anticipating what's going to happen throughout the day. But more so you are present in the moment of your day. And that is giving you energy and that is actually making you excited for the day ahead.
Ashley Brown 8:29
So that's how routines help you directly. That's how a morning routine and a bedtime routine will help you directly reduce your stress. Also, a morning and a bedtime routine indirectly helps you reduce stress. And here's how both of these routines are providing you a strong foundation because they are helping with your energy management. Let me say that, again. They're providing a strong foundation because they're helping with your energy management. Both are energy givers instead of energy takers, I want for you to sit with this. Learn this distinction. You have things in certain routines that are energy takers, which means when you're putting something into it is taking energy from you to do that routine. Now it is necessary, but still, right. Like when you're doing a laundry routine that's taking energy to do let's be real, that's taking energy. However, when you do certain routines, like a morning and a bedtime routine, they are actually giving energy to you. Especially if you have actions within the routines that are allowing you to do that they are giving energy to you.
Ashley Brown 9:38
So this is an indirect way in which these routines will help you reduce stress because if you're able to manage your energy that's a stress reducing tool in general is you being able to manage your energy. You need energy to function in your day to day and you need a good amount of energy. You need a good amount of energy. You need to be using your energy in ways that are smart that are wise. You need to be making sure that you're paying attention to your energy. And so even let's say like even you have a day where you're not paying that much attention to your energy, if you have a morning and bedtime routine going, even on those days where you're not paying that much attention, and you're kind of overdoing it somewhat that morning, that bedtime routine is going to help to refill that energy reserve. So it's still going to, they're going to be helping you all the time over and over and over. So that's why I am such a huge proponent for morning and bedtime routines. These are the foundational core routines of your life. When you don't have these routines in your life.
Ashley Brown 10:38
Life does not feel as good, you feel off kilter, you feel off balance, you feel it's a little bit more chaotic. And you're like internally for you, you know how it feels to not wake up in the best way to like, wake up. And you have this vision of how you want to really be waking up in the morning, but it's never come into fruition. But you know, you want to change up how you wake up in the morning, you don't want to be getting on your phone. As soon as you get up. You don't want to be rushing to your kids bedroom, as soon as you get up to get them ready, right. You don't want to be doing these things, you actually want another vision for your morning. It's the same with your bedtime, maybe you've had a vision of how you really want to get in bed at a certain time and do certain activities that night that really helped you to decompress. But that never happened. And when that's occurring all the time, we start to feel some type of way about that you start to have this internal conflict that stays and so having a morning and a bedtime routine will help to reduce that internal conflict which helps to reduce stress for you.
Ashley Brown 11:38
And so that is what I wanted to share with you today is the fact that these are routines that will help you reduce and lessen your stress all year long is a morning and a bedtime routine have these routines a part of your life, get them up and going. If you want to stress less this year, be sure to get these routines going you can do so and this is a great time to segue into the fact that routine and things accelerator is now open for you to join. We are specifically working together for you to get a morning and a bedtime routine up and going. Not only that, right, that's one piece of the accelerator which is beautiful. The other beautiful piece is that you are learning the art the skill of building and maintaining any routine inside of the accelerator. Not only that, right, those are two great pieces. Another piece of this is that you are learning to be consistent, you are learning what it takes to be consistent with your routines, you are strengthening your consistency muscles.
Ashley Brown 12:41
So if you've ever thought like girl I just cannot stick to a routine. I don't know if this is gonna help me it will it I promise you it will if you think that you just cannot be consistent that is a lie that you have told yourself and started to believe you can stay consistent it takes strategy and inside of the accelerator, I teach you a really awesome strategy for staying consistent with your routines and you also have a supportive group of women alongside you anytime we're doing things with other people it just gives us momentum and also you have accountability is going to be accountability baked into the accelerator that is super important for you to become familiar and accustomed to your routine so that you can keep them going even after the accelerator so super excited about this would love to see you inside if you want to join the routine and things accelerator you can do so now doors will be closing on Saturday January 7, so join us come inside you can do so by clicking the link in the show notes or go to routineandthings.com/accelerator to join hopefully this was a great episode for you if you enjoyed it rate and review the show as well as share with someone that you know but until next time, continue to enjoy wherever you are, whatever you're doing. I am wishing and hoping and praying that you have the most amazing year and I will talk to you next week.
Ashley Brown 14:06 [Outro]
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, take a screenshot and share it on social I would love to know you're listening and for tools to help you start maintain and enjoy your routines. Be sure to head to routineandthings.com Here's to staying happy