Everyday rituals? Something you do no matter what?

[bugfeli]

to be really honest, i've been very very very busy! ive fallen out of a lot of my long-lasting routines, unfortunately. being off balance is somewhat interesting (new changes and all, not to say im unhappy) but i do miss my old everyday rituals. im hoping that reading others' daily rituals might help me back on track to my usual stuff, too! 

so, what's something you do every day (or every other day, if you want) even if you're incredibly busy?

before i ended up being so swamped with work and school, i used to have a lot of small things i made sure to do... usually it was along the lines of making just a little bit of progress on long-lasting hobbies, reading just a couple pages of a book before bed, adding a few sketches to my journals, or writing up a small entry on my blog. but, what i really miss the most (and of course the most time-consuming one i had to give up) was my nightly movie.

ive always really liked film, especially horror movies, and i ended up having such a large collection of dvds i'd seen but never really watched specifically on dvd. so, remedying that, i used to put on a dvd every night, slowly chipping away at my collection. after watching all of the dvds i had stocked up, i moved on to just any movie! catching up on some culturally significant favorites i never watched, classics, friend recommendations, and whatnot. watching movies every night was probably one of the richest points of my life, i was always teeming with inspiration and brand new thoughts, found myself excited to get everything in my routine done ahead of time to make as much time as possible for a movie. i'd like to get back into it once i'm not too busy... hopefully...

[lakes]

Lately, I've been boiling tea for myself a lot, especially for breakfast. I find it soothing, especially when it's cold out.
I try to clean the litterbox in my room every day, some days my dad does the others, some days I do all of them, some days it's just that one and the one in the living room for me.
I also try to make sure to do basic hygiene: showering, slippers, brushing my tea. But I forget the slippers one sometimes.

[sleepyhare]

I have a special section in my journal dedicated to "what happened today?"-- Every night, I jot down a few highlights from my day and give the day a colour based on how good it was (red is terrible, orange is bad, yellow is meh, green is good, and blue is amazing). It's a ritual I started after I quit journaling for a whole year; I was putting too much pressure on myself to record events in long paragraph entries, but having no journal entries at all felt like losing a big chunk of my life! So, I'm glad I made it easier to keep the habit. I still write longer entries every few days, but now they can be anything I want-- random rants, rambles, and ideas-- because I'm not worried about keeping track of events. Journaling is much more rewarding now!

[Dan Q]

Not so much a ritual as a cultivated habit, but this year, I've been making a daily ritual of blogging every day. As of today, I've broken my "longest streak" record with 112 consecutive days! It's been hard.

But here's something I do every single day: the first piece of software I end up using, virtually every morning, first thing... is my RSS reader. Every single day. It feels like a great way to get a snapshot  picture of what's going on in the world (of things I care about).

[bugfeli]

happy to hear about those who journal! ive always wanted to commit to a consistent one, i've definitely designated several notebooks to being one but i always lose the steam to keep writing after a couple days. though you could definitely say blogging is journaling, i really enjoy the novelty of sitting down to write something by hand, if only i could stay so consistent.

I was putting too much pressure on myself to record events in long paragraph entries, but having no journal entries at all felt like losing a big chunk of my life! So, I'm glad I made it easier to keep the habit. I still write longer entries every few days, but now they can be anything I want-- random rants, rambles, and ideas-- because I'm not worried about keeping track of events. Journaling is much more rewarding now!

though i think something like this might suit me better if i ever tried to committ to jounraling properly, i've always known there were easier ways of journalling but seeing it work for others kinda gives me hope! thanks for sharing :)

[MrsMoe]

My usual daily routine involves making myself a tea and breakfast, watching short video essay while eating, checking Tumblr, checking Melonland, and then checking the facebook pages for the local businesses around my town. Everything else within my day varies, but those are the main things I try to do the moment I wake up.

I'd say watching a movie is an alternate daily ritual, since I do that every OTHER day.

[fablefound]

i've been using the finch app for a couple of years to keep on top of daily chores and self-care, so i guess a lot of my daily rituals start with checking on my little digital bird friend and seeing what needs to be done... though i suppose bare minimums like eating food, taking my meds, and brushing my teeth are hardly rituals haha. neither is my job... not as much as checking on my bird itself.

i'm also trying to try and once a day check in with my body, because that's something i've always been bad at... and while the results are sometimes frustrating (the messages from my body these days are usually "ow, i'm in pain" or "hey, i need food" lol) it's something i'm proud to be getting more fluent in. 

[Horsey Chobunso]

My only true daily ritual is making myself nice coffee in the morning to treat myself. Normally its a pour over, sometimes an aeropress, and almost always specialty coffee. I know that part of my enjoyment is due to caffeine dependency, but the process always feels so nice. It's just enough work that I need to focus on it, but still easy enough to do when I'm not yet put together.

Cooking isn't a daily ritual mostly because I make enough to have leftovers, but it is a constant one for me.

I have a bunch of things I'm trying to make more habitual, but they generally come and go in waves. I was doing pretty well with journaling, meditating, and reading passages from the Tao Te Ching, but I've fallen off of them pretty hard. I was writing every day in a few different ways, but I've taken a break. There's nothing that says I can't get back in the habit, just my own doing.