Shift #5: Shifting from Routines to Rituals
The alarm goes off. J.J mumbles, “Good God, its morning.” JJ semi-consciously shuts off the alarm and rolls out of bed stumbling into the bathroom for the morning hygiene routine. After getting dressed for the day, JJ heads to the kitchen and gets a quick breakfast while checking the calendar and checking in with his or her spouse as to who is doing what. The kids get their breakfast and get to the bus stop and it is off to work.
When JJ leaves work and heads home to prepare dinner, JJ’s spouse gets the kids after their practice or extracurricular activities. After dinner and cleaning up JJ takes care of a few items for work, and then sits down to watch his or her favorite show or shows. JJ is asleep by 10 and does it all over again the next day.
The above is a routine. JJ is doing things that are necessary but there is no purpose to them other than they are necessary. The vast majority of people tend to fall into a routine that is not necessarily geared toward helping them manage their life or helping their child and family deal with their lives. It is undirected habit.
The last paradigm shift is about developing rituals in your life instead of just routines. Your rituals will include elements associated with applying HEAT. While they are individual in nature if your family can develop them together all of you individually and collectively as a family unit will be much healthier, happier, and better able to manage the stresses of life. Sadly, on a personal level I didn’t understand the importance of certain rituals until just a few years ago when the children were grown up. We had routines but not rituals.
What goes into a ritual? Your rituals should consist of habits that focus on your body, your mind, and your spirit. It could include practices such yoga, tai chi, breath work, stretching, cardiovascular workouts, strength training, meditation, prayer, mindfulness, journaling, courses, reading, planning and goal setting. It would not look the same for everyone.
You may choose to do a full-fledged workout in the morning or evening. You may decide to arise early to do spiritual practices in the quiet of the morning. The general philosophy of a morning ritual is to do things that will get your body, mind, and spirit ready for the day ahead. The general philosophy behind an evening ritual is to ready the body, mind, and spirit for a good night’s sleep. As part of that evening process, your ritual involves establishing practices that allow you to deal with your emotions and attitude. It also is a time to get yourself prepared for the next day. For many, the evening rituals can be more challenging to develop as they can often get cast aside as other priorities move past them. The evening ritual may be the most important one because of its direct connection to the processing of the emotions and events of the day, dealing with the stress of what may be going on in your life, and aiding you in getting the vital good night’s sleep that so many people lack. The more consistent your nightly ritual the more consistently you will be able to let go and rest.
If teenagers develop these rituals at their age, they will be set up for handling the transition into adulthood, which is a great stressor they go through. The teen years are challenging years for teens and their parents. The better you can help your teen manage the changes they are experiencing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually the better they will perform in every area of their lives.
Before providing some startling statistics on mental health, let me first say that while depression and anxiety are two major mental health issues facing our teenagers, many deal with negative emotions such as fear, guilt, frustrations, hurt, sadness that impacts their lives without ever becoming clinically diagnosed with major depressive disorder. To qualify for clinical major depressive disorder, someone needs to experience greater than or equal to five symptoms during the same two-week period that “are a change from previous functions; depressed mood and/or loss of interest/pleasure must be present; exclude symptoms clearly attributable to another medical condition.”[1] That means you can experience four or fewer symptoms and not be clinically diagnosed with major depressive disorder – but it sure doesn’t mean you are not feeling depressed. Now, here are some alarming statistics.
- The Pew Research Center reports concerns about mental health outweigh the concerns about teen pregnancy and bullying that all students deal with on a daily basis. This study led to the discovery that nearly half of Americans ages 13 to 17 are battling some form of mental illness, and the research found that 12 percent of these students experience bouts of depression.
- A recent study found that 1 in 3 college students experiences significant depression and anxiety.[2]
- About 30 percent of the 195,000 respondents to a recent American College Health Association (ACHA) survey reported having felt depressed in the last 12 months, and 50 percent reported having felt overwhelming anxiety during the same period.[3]
- Statistics show that 76% of students feel high levels of stress about the college application process.[4]
- 15.08% of youth (age 12-17) report suffering from at least one major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year.
- Childhood depression is more likely to persist into adulthood if gone untreated.
- The number of youth experiencing MDE increased by 306,000 (1.24%) from last year’s dataset.
- The state prevalence of youth with MDE ranges from 11.36% in the District of Columbia to 18.62% in Oregon.
- 60.3% of youth with major depression do not receive any mental health treatment.
- Youth experiencing MDE continue to go untreated. Even among the states with greatest access for youth, 1 in 3 youth are still not receiving the mental health services they need.
- The state prevalence of untreated youth with depression ranges from 30.0% in Maine to 73.1% in Texas.[5]
- According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), around one in five adults experience a mental health condition at some point during their life. Among student athletes, however, approximately 30% of women and 25% of men report having anxiety. Only 10% of all student athletes with known mental health conditions seek help from a mental health professional. Furthermore, about 25% of elite athletes experience disordered eating, burnout, depression or anxiety.[6]
- Stressors specific to college athletes include balancing academic demands with travel, interpersonal issues with teammates and coaches, and increased practice time during the athletic season. Health risks include insufficient sleep, exhaustion/fatigue, digestive problems, elevated anxiety and performance-related burdens. Findings suggest that college athletes experiencing substantial stress are more likely to practice unhealthy habits and experience psychological issues. Conclusions & Recommendations Intervention is necessary to reduce negative health outcomes in college athletes.[7]
What are the symptoms of stress? According to the American Institute of Stress, the symptoms of stress include mind racing, heart racing, inability to sleep, fatigue, anger, mood swings, depression and more. Symptoms can be physical and psychological.
Well established morning and evening rituals can greatly aid in healthily dealing with stress. People are learning about the tools you can use to deal with stress. They are learning about the importance of breathing, mindfulness or meditation or prayer, exercise, nutrition, journaling and a host of other powerful tools. Establishing the rituals that incorporate them into their life – particularly teenagers – is severely lacking. It isn’t easy, but nothing of real value is – is it?
[1] https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/10195/dsm-5-criteria-major-depressive-disorder
[2] https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/college-students-and-depression
[3] https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2014/10/8/mind-body-and-sport-depression-and-anxiety-prevalence-in-student-athletes.aspx
[4] https://blog.prepscholar.com/why-are-college-applications-so-stressful#:~:text=A%20totally%20normal%20(but%20totally,%2C%20you%20aren’t%20alone!
[5] https://www.mhanational.org/issues/2022/mental-health-america-youth-data#:~:text=15.08%25%20of%20youth%20(age%2012,%25)%20from%20last%20year’s%20dataset.
[6] https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2022/09/a-quiet-crisis-in-college-sports#:~:text=Among%20student%20athletes%2C%20however%2C%20approximately,%2C%20burnout%2C%20depression%20or%20anxiety.
[7] Ward, Peter. “Identifying Stress Unique to College Athletes: Health Outcomes and Interventions.” RISE: Research, Innovation, Scholarship, Entrepreneurship, Northeastern University, 2016, www.northeastern.edu/rise/presentations/identifying-stress-unique-to-college-athletes-health-outcomes-interventions/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2023