Now, I'm someone who absolutely needs a fair level of routine. If I don't build my life in routines, then nothing gets done. Or things only get done when I finally notice they haven't been done in a while, and I probably can't remember the last time they were actually done (if I didn't make a routine out of them). But I also feel the rub on my routines, and they can feel stifling and heavy, and sometimes make things that I know benefit me feel rote and meaningless.
Here's the thing though...some routines can stay the same for our entire lives, because they are almost basic. Brushing my teeth is a routine that I've had since childhood, and as far as I can recall, it's been the same basic routine. When I'm done with the day, and getting ready for bed, I'll go brush my teeth. I go through the same steps (putting toothpaste on my brush, brushing, rinsing, mouthwash). Unless something happens that makes me have to change, I do this the same way, every day, because it just makes sense. Yes, it's boring and rote, but that's okay, because with something like brushing, the important part is doing the thing, not the experience of doing (aka it's important my teeth get brushed, not that I have a fun time brushing).
Other routines can bring diminishing returns if we build our routine too strong. A big routine for me is my 'morning routine', which for me means the stuff I do all the time in the morning, and it's spiritual and physical stuff that helps me get going. But it definitely is something that suffers if I do the exact same thing every day....especially for the spiritual stuff! If I say the same affirmations every day, eventually they start to loose meaning. It's like the words are just said, and they no longer have any punch.
A really easy way to freshen up your routines is to think of them in broad terms, instead of specific. If I were to describe my morning routine in broad strokes it would be: greet the day, general stretching, breathing, affirmations, meditation, deep stretching. Each of those categories can hold a lot of different variation. So when one part is feeling a bit tedious, I can swap it up and maybe use new affirmations or a different type of meditation.
But the benefit, for me, of having a morning routine is it bundles all that stuff together, into a format that encourages me to do all of it...as opposed to having to remember to do each thing on it's own. Routines are a type of habit, and habits, once you make them, are much harder to break due to momentum. We tend to keep doing the stuff we are used to doing, and building a routine is a way to capitalize on this.
Sometimes all you need to change up your routine is a cosmetic change. When I say my affirmations for the day, I visualize something tied to each one. Right now I'm using the visualization of clothing (so as I say the affirmation, I visualize putting on a specific article of clothes), but before I've used potions (so each affirmation would be said as I thought of the look and taste of the potion, then I would visualize drinking it). Or I might keep the same type of visualization, but change up the wording of the affirmation.
Other times, you need to change something more drastic. I used to do my morning meditation with an app and a heated eye mask. But after doing it for several months, I found that I was starting to resent the time and effort it took. It felt like getting set up to meditate just frustrated me and while I was meditating I was just trying not to think about how long it would be until it was over. It was becoming counterproductive, so I stopped using the app and mask and just went back to sitting on my own. While there was plenty of variety in the app (it had new, daily meditations, so that part was nice), it just wasn't working for me, so I had to change it.
You might also find that you may need to add or remove things from your routine. This is fine! Even though routines are 'regular' things, we can adapt them as we need. I have changed my morning routine SO many times over the years. Sometimes I'll learn about something new and just need to add it (my most recent addition was adding deeper stretching, because the general stretching just wasn't enough for my body), while other times I'll just need a break from a practice, so I'll remove it from my routine (I used to do regular cord cutting and energy retrieval, but as I don't really go out much anymore, I don't feel I need this in my daily routine anymore).
The great thing is that our routines aren't actually carved in stone (even though they can sometimes feel like it). We can add or remove things whenever we want. It may take us a little while to consistently remember the changes we have made, but it is significantly easier to change a routine than to start a new one from scratch. And we can absolutely undo changes we have made, if we try them out and find they don't work for us. The whole point of a routine is to make things easier for yourself, so if it's not working...adjust it!
I feel like people often think about routines as being absolutes. Either you do something the same way always or you don't (as in you never do things the same way), but there is a whole lot of grey area in the middle. You can embrace change within your routines, you can have several variations of the same routine, and you can adjust your routine whenever you feel the need to. So don't be afraid to customize your routines!
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