I can deal with change, but changing my routine is darned difficult.
Routines are healthy. Â It’s when a routine turns into a rut, that the routines turn unhealthy mentally and physically.
Using the physically fit concept, good fitness requires cross-training, which is doing different types of exercise to turn your physical fitness up to the next level.
Mental cross-training is also important. Â Get out and seek new experiences and ideas. Â I really notice this when hubby and IÂ go somewhere, whether it’s to the Walker Art Center, the Hennepin County Fair to watch a demo derby, or day-tripping doing antiquing.
Mental cross-training can also be easily achieved by talking with other people.  “Talking” is not quite accurate though.  If you want to gain new ideas or ways of looking at the world, don’t be the one who does all the talking. Save that for people you know who are super interested in the same passionate interest that you are.
I like to think of changes as chaos. Â The chaos is new, not ordered, and not assimilated ideas and information. Â Once you have the chaos, your mind in within your routine, can turn it into new order.
So, you are in essence creating stress by inserting these new things in your life. Â Stress is not inherently bad. Â Stress can be created even for things that are new and positive. Â Once you start to feel “settled” into the changes, it becomes a new or adapted routine.
Non-autistic (neurotypical) people, need routines.  In this article the author writes, “Successful people have the discipline to stick to routines that enhance their creativity, lower their stress, and increase their energy. They engage in things such as daily exercise, steady sleep habits, prayer and meditation, and regular meals, even if they don’t feel like it.”
My hubby encourages me to get out of the house by taking a job or going for coffee with a potential friend. Â But, I can only do so much, then I need to immerse myself in a solitary activity, or be around others saying very little.
