My boyfriend, my friend Sarolta and I spent the weekend in Cappadocia, an amazing historic site in central Turkey. It's known for its rock formations often referred to as "fairy chimneys". We joined a tour run by a local man named Önder. It was all in Turkish, and almost none of our fellow tour takers spoke English, but it was good listening and speaking practice!
Such a cool place!
Anyway, on to the real stuff!
Routines: some people love them, and some people HATE them. Personally, I'm a big fan. There is a ton of research that suggests students learn best when they have some kind of routine to follow, whether that's a warm-up activity, an actual schedule, or even 5 minutes of quiet time before class starts. Anyway, I accidentally fell into my own routine when I started college, and it has carried over here in Turkey.
On mornings when I have to work, I get up at 6:30. I make coffee, get ready, make breakfast, and play games or read the news on my phone for a few minutes. I'm ready to leave my house between 8:00 and 8:10, and off to work I go.
This may seem like a no-brainer to many of you, but it makes such a huge difference for me. By carving out this relatively short amount of time everyday to do something in a methodical way, it helps give my life some illusion of order in an otherwise hectic country.
For many of us living abroad, culture shock affects us more than we may care to admit. There are days when I can handle the bus being an hour late or people pushing in front of me to buy their groceries, but there are other days where I want to fly off the handle for someone bumping into me or even looking at me the wrong way.
Having this routine in the morning helps me start my day in a stress-free way. There are some mornings where I forget I'm in Turkey until I walk outside. While everything around me outside may be different from my life in Oregon, I still have that little piece of America in my apartment when I drink coffee and check my phone.
For those of us that hate routines or have trouble sticking to them, fear not! All it takes is a little effort and initiative, and maybe a little help from an app.
I use an app called Fabulous. It's basically a habit-creation helper. You begin by choosing your first "journey", be it weight loss, sleeping better, better focus and concentration, or feeling energized. The first one I chose was the weight loss and healthy eating journey. Then, you choose which habits you'd like to create for your morning, afternoon, and evening ritual. You can then set reminders for your habits and see your progress. Some of the habits I already did everyday, but there have been some new ones that I've taken on. For example, I now do yoga 4-5 nights a week. If I don't do it, I can feel a difference in my body and stress levels. Right now they only have it for Android, but they're working on the version for iOS.
Do you have a routine? How do you stick with it? Share in the comments!
Until next time,
Heather
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