"For many challenged by struggles and mental health issues, days may feel oddly distant from any sense of well-being, as languishing, depression, sadness, or falling back into unhealthy addictive propensities begin to emerge. These thoughts may even encourage maladaptive behaviors or the temptation to roll back into unhealthy habits, relinquishing control to "feeling processes" that have hijacked logic. People may express these moments in terms of feeling "off" or "not fully present.""
"In this void, there is a gradual drifting away from hope, an untethering to one's own sense of agency and internal locus of control. What many don't realize is that this drift is a powerful "neurological signature" broadcasting to the brain an absence of predictability and a chipping away at self and controllability. But yet, there is a most effective and powerful counter to this effect, and it is...routine."
Emotional drift arises when routine disappears, producing mental fog, loss of agency, and increased vulnerability to languishing, depression, sadness, or relapse into addictive behaviors. Absence of routine signals unpredictability to the brain, activating threat responses and eroding self‑control and hope. Establishing routine restores predictability, calms threat circuitry, and reduces stress hormones. Small repeated rituals anchor time, cut decision fatigue, free emotional bandwidth, and create micro‑moments of mastery. Micro‑moments of mastery build self‑efficacy, strengthening resilience and serving as a potent antidote to depression and anxiety. Routine therefore serves as an effective countermeasure against emotional drift and behavioral relapse.
Read at Psychology Today
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