I remember thinking routines are boring. They are "the same old thing" over and over. Routines lack excitement. School vacations were great because I could stay up late and ditch my normal bedtime as a child. Vacations were fun because there were surprises to the schedule. This is how I looked at life until I had a son. He loathes spontaneity! The only way he can anticipate..
- What will come next
- What the expectations are
- How he is to relate to others
- How others will relate to him
...is by having a set of routines. Routines help him predict how the social world works. Routines lower his anxiety because he knows what to do and when to do it. His social anxiety spikes without routines. If it spikes he has little capacity to do much else except managing his anxiety.
My son is not unique. This is true for anyone who doesn't thrive on social interaction. People that fall into this group are often introverts, those with traumatic backgrounds, those with anxiety disorders/mental health diagnosis or those with social deficits such as autism or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Over the next few weeks, we'll look at ways to use routines to lower social anxiety and accomplish many tasks. Please join me here next Thursday as we begin this series.
Posted with Blogsy