We’re living in an age where slowing down is treated as a weakness. If you’re not grinding, you’re lazy. If you’re resting, you’re wasting time. And somewhere in all of that, we stopped doing things just because they feel good. So here’s why personal rituals matter.
Rituals aren't what social media says they are
I think because of social media, rituals have been portrayed as something they’re not. I along with many others have thought that to have a ritual and do it right, you need the right tools (often expensive), it needs to be aesthetic, it needs to be the highest quality ingredients and so on. And while all of that can elevate the experience, I don’t think it’s needed to serve its purpose. Let me explain.
So what is the purpose?
The purpose of a ritual is to stay grounded by being in the moment. It’s blocking some time for yourself to do something that brings you joy. It doesn’t need to be productive. It doesn’t need to yield the best results. It just needs to bring you joy. Rituals also help bring you to a state of calm that helps reset the nervous system. It’s also a little something to look forward to just for you when the day is hard or when there’s a difficult season in life to weather through.
And no, that’s not useless, time consuming or being lazy.
Rituals are something that we do for ourselves and that in itself is an act of kindness, and the output doesn’t need to be worthy of external approval for it to bring meaning. And it doesn’t have to be big or cost a thing to make an impact.
My 4pm latte ritual
Like for me, every day around 4pm, that’s the time for one of my little rituals. I go to the kitchen and turn on my coffee machine. I take my time to grind the coffee beans, prepare the coffee grinds, froth the milk. And quite honestly I think I’m more excited about the process of making the latte than the latte itself because it gives me a moment every day to look forward to something I love doing just for the joy and pleasure of doing it. The latte is a bonus of course lool!
However, when I started this ritual, it was with my Moka pot and an electric hand frother to froth milk. It wasn’t until years later that I upgraded to a coffee machine.
Just sitting in the moment
And rituals don’t have to be complicated. Sometimes you don’t even have to do anything, sometimes it’s just to sit in the moment. For example, what I love to do every day is wake up in the morning and sit with my cat for 10 to 20 minutes. Just sit with her and look out the window next to my bed and just be in the moment with her. I feel a lot of calm and groundedness just being there with her in that time, looking at the sky. And moments like this actually impact how I start my day, which brings me to my last point.
You notice when you skip them
Rituals, no matter what time of day you practice them, have a real impact on how you feel and show up for the rest of that day. There are days where I don’t get to do my rituals and it genuinely throws me off. I get upset because I feel like I didn’t give myself any time that day. And sometimes life happens and you can’t help it, but you notice the difference. That’s how you know it matters no matter how small you think your ritual is.
So tell me in the comments below, what are your rituals? I would love to know. If you don’t have one, maybe it’s time to have one, or maybe you already have one without knowing it: the daily walk, the winding down at night with a cup of tea, or even journaling. Whatever it is, every bit of it counts.
