Tag: routine

As parents and grandparents, we all understand the importance of bedtime. Many of us have a Sophie or an Ethan who tries to postpone bedtime for as long as possible. Bedtime becomes a nightly battle. Even if Sophie goes to bed, she does not stay in bed. Sophie has all sorts of reasons for not staying in bed—worries, unable to sleep, thirsty, needs to go to the bathroom, etc. The end result of this situation is a grumpy child and grumpy parents. We all deserve a peaceful bedtime.

How you spend your morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. There are a myriad of proven and suggested benefits for maintaining a morning routine. First and foremost, studies indicate that your willpower is at its highest in the morning before fatigue has a chance to set in. Instead of starting your day in a rush and feeling like you're already behind, set aside the time to complete some necessary tasks that boost your energy levels rather than deplete them. Here are a few suggestions to help you take advantage of the most productive part of the day:

Are you having sex with your spouse just because you should? Is your sex life motivated purely by expectation and by the belief that sex is irreversibly written into the fine print of preferred spousal behaviors and should happen regardless? If you answered "yes" to the above, chances are your sex life may be suffering from the rut of routine.

While we may like to escape the negative associations of routine sex, if we’ve been in an exclusive relationship for an extended period of time, we may not be able to evade its seeming inevitability.

I love dining out at restaurants. There's something about the scents, colors and textures of a carefully prepared plate, which whets my appetite—and, of course, there's the company that just seals the night. I like to think of sex like this; as an entirely diverse sensory experience, which, if handled well, can literally and figuratively whet our appetites for more.

In spite of the potential sizzle that sex represents, all of us who've been married for some time, have experienced hum-drum sex. We've been in the doldrums at one time or another and may have virtually yawned our way through a sexual encounter or two.

My yoga teacher Tiffany Wood loves to say, "You may not be in control of every situation, but you can always take charge." It took time for this teaching to sink in, and becoming a mother gave me a whole new perspective on being out of control. Parents are handed a tiny human with their own agenda and pretty strong opinions out of the gate. It’s physically and emotionally exhausting and it only gets harder when your child is old enough to look you in the eye and shout, "NO!"

Add challenging situations like massive winter storms, losing a job, family health issues or coronavirus, which leave you feeling vulnerable and unprepared.

In reflecting on her feelings during this Coronavirus lockdown, author R. O. Kwon wrote in the New York Times that she is grieving, and chances are, we all are too.

Indeed, the Coronavirus crisis is taking a staggering toll on human life—but the loss we’re all experiencing does not stop there. Jobs, school, the comfort of visits with community and family, peace of mind… No wonder you may be having trouble focusing and sleeping or experiencing exhaustion, sadness and anger. That’s grief for you.

Let’s face it, most people are creatures of habit. Our work lives do not differ much from one day to the next. We typically eat, sleep and work. We then press the "repeat" button and conduct ourselves the same way on the next workday. Our weekends are not much different. We gravitate toward the same activities, groups of friends and rotations of the same restaurants.

Being a creature of habit is comfortable. It provides a degree of continuity and stability to our lives. However, being a creature of habit may make a marriage particularly uncomfortable, so much so that it could be the difference between a marriage thriving and failing.