Mark Kaplan

The sameness of everyday life can get monotonous, but it is important not to Let Routine Depress You. Our brain defaults to cortisol when it is not experiencing happiness.

This is the mad trap we get into by needing happiness perks to get out of the cortisol stimulus. It is why we shop, overeat, do drugs, gamble, use anger, and other self-destructive routines. The negative behaviors listed can deliver happiness brain chemicals unfortunately.

The Negative Spiral
We can get into a negative spiral to escape the depressing effects of cortisol. Shopaholics are an example of getting stuck on the treadmill of continuous spending. They get a perk from a new acquisition, but it is the characteristic of happiness bran chemicals to wear off and default to cortisol. The only way for shopaholics to escape is to buy something else.

The same can happen with eating, drinking, drugs, and anger. They become the outlet to stimulate happiness. Post partum depression can be a result of the same pattern and so can there be a let down after school finals are finished. We get keyed up, adrenalin crazed, challenged, excited about something that is going to happen and when everything is finished we are left with a vacuum of no stimulus.

We Become Habituated to Daily Routine
We can become habituated to daily routines. Every day starts looking like the last one and we expect tomorrow will look like today. We start feeling like we are in a vacuum with the same demands being made on us every day and finding that there is no longer excitement or happiness in fulfilling these demands.

This can lead to burn out. Routine can play with our brain’s need for challenge, risk, growth, and contribution. These are all characteristics that stimulate dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. Our brain has a reward center for certain behaviors. When we keep feeding it, we don’t have the need for negative behaviors to fill the vacuum.

Time Management is the Door Out
This is where time management and creating blocks of growth into our daily routines can reduce the need for negative behaviors. If we have several growth blocks in a day, we overwhelm negative thinking or don’t give it a lot of time to fester.

What are some growth blocks? Creativity, collaborating, caring, protecting, learning, exercise, eating healthy, love, and contribution to name a few. Classify your highest energy periods of the day for the most demanding, challenging, risky, and creative work. This will give you a big opportunity for growth and hopefully working toward your purpose and perhaps the reason you are here.

Let the purpose for your work be something that gives your life meaning. Set a goal or just engage because the engagement is what makes you happy. I feel a need to write and exercise every day. A day without the two can make me sad. I feel I missed two things that give my life purpose, that align with my values, that are reasons I am here.
On the other hand, when I am finished with each or while I am engaged, I feel gratitude that I have the opportunity to engage. Each gives me happiness brain chemicals because I am meeting a challenge and taking a little risk that I might not finish nor accomplish my goal. Risk doesn’t have to be mortally or financially threatening.

Give the Brain What it Wants
Our brain loves creativity. It is an act of solving a problem or creating something that didn’t previously exist. It gets a bigger perk if it would contribute to helping others. Why do song writers feel the need to share or writers, or entrepreneurs, or teachers? There is something about our efforts influencing other lives. We are a communal species. If you want to get more cosmic, cells and the most basic matter in the universe exist to make the whole better.
Find ways to break up your routine with meaningful activities. Have several a day. At the end of the day, we want to say, that was a good day and I am looking forward to making tomorrow just as meaningful or growth oriented.