Novelty vs. Routine

I’ve been fighting routines my whole life—it’s never come naturally, and I’m tired of pretending it ever will.

Doing the same thing over and over again sounds like torture. But without a routine, it’s almost impossible to build good habits. The biggest one I still can’t crack? Working out consistently. It’s something that I will always want to do consistently but probably never will.

I’ve tried every free app, a few paid ones, and even made a color-coded Google Slides workout guide based on my mood and schedule. Guess how many times I used it? Once. Maybe.

At some point, I had to stop pretending I just needed the right tool. I’ve read the books. I’ve followed the TikToks. I’ve tried the “one habit at a time” thing. Nothing sticks—because I’m not a routine person.

And that’s okay.

I brush my teeth, take my meds (most days), and shower enough to stay socially acceptable. I work out when I’m motivated. I snooze my alarm a million times. I rot in bed when I need to. I will always have the nagging voice in my head making sure I don’t waste my life away so I always do something with my day, and that’s enough for me.

Routines work for some people. For others, like me, every day is different—and that’s not a flaw. It’s just how I function.

So no, I don’t have advice to build the perfect habit stack. But if you’ve been trying and failing and feeling like a mess, maybe you just need to hear this:

You’re not broken. You just need to do things your way.

You do you.