What do you do to maintain structure in your day?

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I find following a list of daily self-care tasks keeps me consistent enough.

Nothing.

Nothing either.
Picture a house of cards falling down.
There is no structure.

I have to feed my farm (pets) in the morning, then clean six litter bins, clean the floors and refill all their water bowls.
Sterilize the tables and bowls and stuff.
Sometimes that takes all day.

I'm lucky if I can brush my hair or feed myself most days.

Weekdays have a structure imposed by my kids school. Get up, feed dogs, make kid a packed lunch, get her ready for school, drive her to school, walk dogs. Then it all falls apart until 3.15 when i pick her up again.

I prefer weekdays because they have this structure. Weekends often spiral out of control.

I am very heavily into structure, I fall apart without it.

I have a system of assigning 20 minute tasks/activities to dice numbers, and then repeatedly rolling dice to determine what to do next. It is nice because it provides both a structured day and unpredictabilty at the same time.

I have routines. I start my day doing specific things in the normal order. To help me on that, I have some visual reminders where I will see them while I am doing the other things.

When I retired, however, it got complicated. The things I "have" to do are typically exhausted before lunch. I've had to ask my doctor to make sure I can take all of my prescription medicines at the same time, once a day. Otherwise I'll miss some of them.

I cannot due to fluctuating energy levels and unpredictable mood and energy.

My day/week/month can be as predictable as it can be, but my body cannot or won't allow it.

And I cannot simply plan things around my body. Else, I'd be doing all or nothing by kept guessing.

If only it's as simple as sleeping early and longer -- sometimes my upper respiratory cannot let me by sneezing all night for hours.

Sometimes my gut and the reflux, that antacids and snacking on almonds can only do much.

Sometimes it's because of what I did, sometimes it's because of the weather, sometimes it's the room that I don't own or control, sometimes it's just hormones.

I wish my body does not 'adjust itself' to the BCs I'm taking.
I'd rather have the initial effects long term than the so-called natural yet unwanted state.



I can only have schedules that are mostly negotiable and flexible. Self care system that can be as complex as my body kept dictating. Which I've yet to fully mapped out.

After years of "full time work routine";
Working part time/s only, spacing between days, and no early hectic mornings so I prefer to start close to noon or later.

Deadlines had to be much further because I cannot function well at last minute.

Else, I'd be doing nothing or dwindle until I slept for 10+ hrs in the afternoon since my sleep never makes up for whatever energy loss throughout the day if I worked full time.

Certain amount of stress would trigger this stupid constant and unasked for state of urgency that distorts my prioritization, sense of time into thinking I'm too slow (in turn making time too fast), becoming clumsier, forgetful, less reliable, and vulnerable to moodiness...


... It's a wonder why I hadn't developed anxiety disorders for dealing with chronic stress while being autistic.

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I have a constantly changing sleep schedule that I cannot change, so it's not possible for me to have any kind of consistency, but I also don't crave it. I'm fine with my days being unstructured.

I really like having routine & predictability but my girlfriend sometimes majorly complicates that. Her schedule is very inconsistent sometimes. Cass likes going to bed in the morning & getting up in the afternoon which I would be fine with but lots of times she has to be up in the mornings to go shopping, go to appointments, or to leave & visit family for a couple nights. She'll take a nap in the middle of the night for a couple hours before getting ready to leave & sometimes she'll take another nap before leaving or changes plans to leave in the afternoon so she can take a nap. When she gets back she'll go to bed late in the evening & then sleep for like 7-9 hours, wake up in the morning stay up for a few hours & then goes back to bed for a few hours. I like & sometimes need to be up when she's up(we both like spending lots of time hanging out together) but it's very difficult for me to wake up after only getting a couple hours sleep

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