Have you ever made a daisy chain? If not it goes like this – you lay in the grass and relax, maybe have a glass of wine or lemonade. You reach over in a leisurely way and pluck a little daisy (and it’s stem.)
With your fingernail you make a little split in the stem and thread another daisy through the hole. Then you make a little split in the new daisy stem and thread another daisy through and on you go. You could make a bracelet or a daisy crown or a pretty necklace.
So why am I prattling about daisy chains? Because habit stacking is boring. It’s a very sensible method of remembering things or making habits stick. But boring.
You’re a free spirit, a rebel, living your life in flow.
The word Routine might give you the shudders. It might remind you of school schedules, housework, boredom, stifling rules that you’ve been fighting against your whole life. Or you suddenly can’t bear them. Those rules that say – you should do this, or that, at this time, not that time.
Habits can be part of a routine, or not at all. You might have a habit of randomly picking flowers and gifting them to strangers. Or you might have a habit of regularly talking to your elderly neighbour, who has a routine so stuck in stone that you can recite it with your eyes closed.
Hidden routines.
Sometimes routines are hidden from our conscious awareness. Regular habits too. If you pause for a moment and rewind your day, week or month, you might find some patterns.
Your cat might demand you wake up and feed them and now it’s normal to wake at that time. You might have medication that you need to take at a certain time. Or you call or visit someone you care about, always at a specific time, because of their routine.
These things are important to you. So important that you have created a pattern, a framework of order in your free-flowing daily life. You might think they’re random. But if you surf whenever the tide is just right, you are following the regular pattern of the tides.
If you have a role sharing your knowledge with other people, you need to be somewhere at a specific time, for them. It might be once a month, once a week or more frequently. That is a pattern, a routine.
The need for order.
Perhaps you’re reading this because you saw that word order, and it struck a chord with you. Your reason for order might be very different from anyone else’s.
There are infinite possible reasons for needing more order in your life. You might need a calming structure, healthier patterns, peaceful security or a feeling of grounding. Maybe you need memory prompts to do small but important things.
The smallest changes can achieve this. Tiny baby steps. That easily fit into your joyful, flexible, holistic life view. They will not suffocate you.
Because you have a choice. You always have a choice. You can try something new, adjust it, transform it, reject it. And try something else. You are the creator of your life. Your own guardian angel.
Your daisy chain.
Linking things you want or need to do, with other things you already do, is the key.
Every time you head out to the beach you might add meditation time. Even if it’s just sitting in the car for 10 minutes. Or let’s say you want to declutter (you knew I’d slip that in somewhere didn’t you?)
Every time you do yoga, or bake bread, or give your dog a bath (pick your at-home activity) you might declutter a tiny bit of your home. Perhaps one drawer.
You might decide you want to do Kegels every day, so whenever you clean your teeth, you do Kegels too. Once you have that new link in your daisy chain, you can add another when you’re ready.
After you clean your teeth, and do your Kegels, you might decide that’s the perfect time to make sure your space is beautiful for you. It might simply be opening a window and straightening the sheets. Or lighting a candle. Or picking up washing and putting it in your washing basket.
Small things, that serve your needs for that day or night, or lifetime.
Start with a small thing. Add another. Perhaps one more. They all become connected, like a daisy chain.
❊ The first daisy is the thing that you already do,
Regularly or
Habitually or
Randomly and repeatedly.
❊ The second daisy is the thing you’d like to get done, or start doing. It makes sense to be linked to your first daisy.
❊ The next daisy is another thing that you also want to start doing. It makes sense to be linked to the daisy before.
Take your time. If you rush your daisy chain before it’s secure, or add too many daisies too quickly, it might break. Add one thing at a time and wait until you’re sure it’s stable. Then add another.
Your daisy chain can be super short, or as long as you like. And you can have multiple daisy chains or just one. It’s all up to you, your life, your choices. You need to find what works for you.
~ If a daisy chain doesn’t resonate with you, you might like to think of a beaded Mandala necklace, or paper party chains. You get the idea.
Liz.
The Tidy Lady.
Declutter Coach & Tidyness Expert.
This really resonates with me. Thank you so much!
I’m so glad, thanks Holly!