how to get back into your grounding practices after you've fallen out of them
how to get back into your grounding practices after you've fallen out of them
when life gets overwhelming, it's so common to let go of these 6 habits - and even harder to get back into them. here are my tried & true ways to return to grounding practices after a break.
“Help! I’ve fallen off my grounding and spiritual practices and can't get up!”
- if this is how you’ve been feeling, let me assure you, you are not alone.
Admittedly, I fell off the wagon for weeks - ok, more like months.
I used to think I had it all figured out. Between my routines, daily walks, meditation, and journaling practices… I spent two years of my life really getting locked into a life that felt juicy and exciting. From last November into this August, life has been very exciting, but it’s been moving forward at rapid speed. Joe and I moved in together in a new place, the holidays happened, the new year started, we brought a new dog into our home, and we made a baby who is still brewing and taking a lot of my personal energy; in addition to taking on as many hours as I can for work, holding space for clients and friends, and figuring out my coaching and contracting business goals.
I know that I need to fit all of these changes around my routines instead of trying to make my routines fit around these changes, but honestly, once the first-trimester exhaustion hit, I was down for the count. My energy, productivity, and spiritual practices have ebbed and flowed since March, and I surrendered to the undoing of it all.
In the surrendering, I’ve assessed how much I miss my practices and realized how much I have actually relied on them to keep me afloat.
I’ve been returning to my journaling, yoga, and meditation practices, earlier wakeups, morning preps, ritual showers, menu prepping and cooking meals, audiobooks, writing, and self-care practices, and in doing so, I have discovered that these ways of grounding myself benefit not only my mental health but also my physical health.
Sometimes, you must inevitably fall out of line to get back into it. But you must get back into it. The outside world moves too quickly not to have practices to help you attain inner peace.
how to return to you & your routines
When you fall out of any behavior, your best bet is simply to begin again. You don’t have to start right where you left off—that can be really overwhelming—but you’ll find that little baby steps will guide you back to where you need to be, exactly when you need to get there.
The first thing I want you to do whenever you recognize that you’ve been away from your routines for too long is to permit yourself to have that break. Sometimes, falling out of these behaviors can create anxiety and feelings of self-sabotage, so just permitting yourself to exist can be enough to relieve some of the tension. We are self-sovereign beings, meaning we get to choose how we show up in the world, for others, for ourselves. If we’ve chosen to shift out of our routines, perhaps it was needed, and we don’t always need to know why. But by saying, “OF COURSE, I’m feeling this way. I needed to ‘take this time to rest and recoup my energy/to experience familiarity and comfort in this old pattern/etc.,” we can begin to show ourselves compassion, forgiveness, and allow ourselves to start again.
I’ve broken the details into sections per habit so they are easier to scroll through:
If you’re struggling to journal…
If you’re struggling to exercise…
If you’re struggling with personal care…
If you’re struggling to meditate…
If you’re struggling to eat well…
If you’re struggling to sleep…
🦋 if you’re struggling to journal…
First, let’s acknowledge that when it feels like you have NO free time, committing to journaling can feel like another task. But a few minutes of brain-dumping a day can be the perfect segue back into your journaling practice.
You can literally start by jotting down your thoughts, your to-do list, 3-5 things you’re grateful for, a list of things that piss you off, a book review, an idea you had for a home project; the possibilities are actually endless. Taking 5-10 minutes a day just to jot can get you back into the swing of journaling and remembering why you liked it in the first place.
🦋 if you’re struggling to exercise…
Kind of the same concept here. A few minutes a day can get you back into it. Start small, like taking a short walk down the street. If you have pups like I do, take them for 8 minutes around the block. Or find a 10-minute workout on YouTube. My trainer used to say, “Start with 10.” 10-minutes is a day is enough to make a difference in your movement goals - and you can continue to increase it by ten as you feel better and can create more time for your workouts.
Exercise doesn’t have to be black-and-white/cardio and/or lifting. It can also be deep cleaning your bathroom (the way I’m up and down scrubbing that bathtub sometimes, you’d think I was doing a HIIT challenge), bringing your fall decor upstairs from the basement, doubling down on laundry. Consider movement exercise and something to cross off your list. Trust me, you’ll feel really good about this!
🦋 if you’re struggling with personal care…
This is something I’ve shared before on other platforms, and it’s sometimes met with confusion. If your nervous system has never been dysregulated to the point of neglecting personal care, consider yourself lucky. Believe it or not, when someone is dealing with anxiety or depression from big or little “T” trauma, taking a regular shower does not always cross their mind. Their systems aren’t prepared to take a moment to care for themselves. I have been in this position before; at the height of my depression in 2021, when I was pretty religiously working from home and staying home for days at a time, I would go days before taking a shower even crossed my mind.
I discovered that for me and many others, we are raised believing that the habit of showering must take place in the morning before our daily activities (work, school, appointments) or at the end of the day before bed. When you’re already in a “freeze” state, your body goes into a protective state of detachment. You can be experiencing sensory overload, exhaustion, or even overwhelm. Your brain can struggle to break down tasks into steps - so yes, taking a shower in a “freeze state” might actually require more emotional resources than one would think.
I taught myself that it’s OK to break the conditioning of showering when we are “told” to. To get back into my habit, I started using showering as a way to break up my day. Instead of saying, “I HAVE to do this first thing in the morning or right before bed,”
I started saying, “ok, after I send this email, I am going to take a shower and make some breakfast.” or “When I get home from the store, I’m gonna put my groceries away and hop in the shower.” Since I was working from home, I started taking morning 8 AM baths as a way to relax, and it naturally transitioned into a shower after my bath.
I once shared this with others on TikTok, and I heard from a college student who said, “I’ve been really struggling to prioritize myself, but I’ve been going to class; I just realized I could do this the second I get home from my classes.” Someone said, “I guess I never thought that this is actually something that’s been conditioned in me and that I can fit this in wherever I can.” And a social worker even hopped in and said she was going to bring this up to some of her clients who really struggled with hygiene during their mental health episodes.”
Just know if you struggle in this area, you still deserve love and care.
🦋 if you’re struggling to meditate…
I want you to be as compassionate as possible with yourself here. I feel like if you’ve fallen out of your meditation practice, you must be gentle with yourself when making your return. It creates intention for your mediation and starts your practice off on the right foot.
Start small. The last time I fell out of my practice, I found that 4 minutes was just enough to get my mind centered, and I was able to hop back in with a 13-minute meditation the next day. For you, this might mean 1-2 minutes of mindful meditation every day until you feel like increasing your time. Sometimes, diving into a guided meditation can feel like too much, especially when you’re busy, so even making your meditation time a time to focus on your breathing can be a great start.
Your meditation doesn’t have to look like sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat if you are not there. You can begin by setting up a cozy space in your living room or even lying down in bed (I know - I am taboo). You can practice while sitting on a park bench. You can meditate while you walk or stretch. You can connect with yourself while you eat, shower, or drink tea. Just focus on your meditation, your breath, your body, and the present. Rebuilding your practice is all about being patient with yourself and recognizing that all steps - even the smallest ones - are progress.
🦋 if you’re struggling to eat well…
…and you don’t know where to start, start by visualizing.
There was a time when I fell out of my habit of eating well, so I started to visualize plates I wanted to see more of—fancy oatmeal with fruit and nut butter, steaks with fresh salad, pasta with fish, etc. I then allowed these visualizations to guide my menu planning and grocery shopping.
I’m not someone who can eat the same meals every day, so if that’s you, know that you can menu plan smaller “just for today” portions of anything. Your ‘planning ahead’ can be creative, and you can save money by buying foods that can be turned into multiple recipes. A single pack of chicken thighs could be lemon chicken thighs over rice and chicken alfredo, and leftover roasted chicken can be cut up into chicken salad.
Food is another area in which to start small! Just focus on making a different, true-to-you choice every day. Bulk up your cereal by adding almonds, hemp seeds, and a piece of fruit. Make a sandwich with extra pieces of deli turkey and add lettuce, tomato, and onion drizzled with olive oil and balsamic. Focus on balance and what you’ll ACTUALLY eat over a picture-perfect recipe.
Gradually ease yourself back into structure. You have permission to try as many times as necessary to reach your goals.
🦋 if you’re struggling to sleep…
Sleep is a hard one to get back into. When you tell someone you’ve fallen out of your sleep routine, the most common suggestion is “set a consistent bedtime!” And while that is great advice, you can hop in bed by 10 pm every day and still struggle to sleep if your circadian rhythm is off.
The first thing you might want to consider doing to help your sleep schedule is changing your mornings. As soon as you wake up in the morning, get yourself outside for 10 minutes just to get some sunlight. This alerts your internal clock that it’s morning. Taking those 10 minutes to walk is also a great way to introduce movement into your mornings.
Work on gradually adjusting your sleep schedule rather than jumping right into it. Try going to bed half an hour earlier and getting up half an hour earlier. Even adjusting by 15 minutes over time can be very helpful in resetting your circadian rhythm and getting back into the swing of rest.
Another thing to focus on is the language you use during bedtime. My therapist taught me that something about telling our brain it’s time “to sleep” makes our brain fight it like a toddler who wants to stay up for another hour. Whenever our brain starts sending us noise when we are winding down, as it is wont to do, practice using language like, “Not now, right now I am resting.” “Rest” takes the pressure off of sleeping but reinforces calmness and relaxes the body.
Falling out of routines is a natural part of life, especially when things get overwhelming. But what matters most is how you choose to get back on track. By embracing small steps, practicing self-compassion, and recognizing that you have the power to start again, you can return to the habits that nourish and ground you. Give yourself grace, and remember, it's okay to ebb and flow - what’s important is that you keep moving forward at your own pace. Rebuilding your practices isn’t about perfection; it’s about progress and finding balance in the chaos of life.