What do you do if your routine gets interrupted?

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For me I don't have a set-in-stone routine that has to be followed or else, but if something out of the ordinary happens I feel so lost. For example, most days I get up, give my cat her medication and spend the rest of the day alternating between the computer and cleaning the house, but today I had to take one of my cats to the vet. While the appointment was only 1 hour long I feel kind of off. For example, I haven't gotten any cleaning done and haven't been on the computer too much. It just seems so useless to even try when I have been so thrown off by something so simple as a vet visit.


So what do you do when/if your routine gets thrown off? Do you try to pick it back up, or just feel defeated and lost?

I feel out of sorts and sometimes have meltdowns when overly frustrated

I get snappy. Woe betide you if you anger or annoy me when I'm snappy.

I love routine. And when anything interrupts it, I get anxiety. I feel very comfortable if my schedule stays the same. So what do I do when it gets interrupted? Well, I just have to try to go along with it whether I like it or not. If I know my routine is going to be off, the time leading up to the change of schedule can be very anxiety-ridden. I often try to focus on special intense interests if I can. But sometimes I am too jittery to do that. So I might work puzzles like Flip Words or crosswords to ease my mind. If my schedule is going to be changed, I like to know in advance so that I can prepare for it. Like this week I have known that I am going to be playing dulcimers for a group of first graders since a month ago. I have prepared for it.

Sometimes my routine schedule gets changed by something being added or taken away from my routine---so eventually it becomes routine and I get used to it---although I might find the additions to my schedule tiresome. But I try to adapt the best I can. Now, if it is something I decide to do that changes my routine, that is usually alright because it was my choice to do it.

My standard routine day consists of waking up at 5:00 AM (yuck---Saturdays are better because I can sleep in) and lying in bed for 30 minutes before getting up. Then I wash up and select my outfit for the day. Then I shave...etc...etc...etc...and end up at work. When I come home, there are certain things I feel I must do before I can relax or interact with anyone. I set my briefcase in the same spot of the family room. I go to the dining room and lay my keys, billfold, and cellphone on the bar. I go upstairs and freshen up and change into comfortable clothes---around the house I usually go barefoot and wear some soft short sleeve shirt (nice alliteration---lol), and comfortable shorts or pants. If the phone rings while I am preparing myself in getting comfortable---I get irritated. I prefer having gotten myself ready to relax before being disturbed.

Saturdays can be quite unpredictable, and I have come to expect that. We often go someplace later in the morning or afternoon. But since that is my sleep-in day, I don't like to have to get up early.

Sundays I get up at 6 AM and head to church at 7 AM to get my music together for the 10 AM service (I am the church organist). I get there early because no one else is there at that time. I like the quietness of the church. And I have plenty of time to get music selected. I eat two pop tarts in the choir room with a Mountain Dew. Then a little later I have a snack bar before the minister and pianist arrive for practice around 9 AM. When I get home, I expect a quiet afternoon. After lunch, I usually go upstairs to the bedroom (while my wife and kids stay downstairs) and I work on the computer and take a nap. I put a towel over the window to block out the sunlight. I like the glow in the bedroom from the sun shining through the towel.

Though there are more things to my schedule and routine (kids schedules with activities), this is my routine. I don't like it to be changed.

Annoyed, irritated, I also get forgetful and then forget to do things, I may get more distracted and it's harder for me to work.

Even having too much to do annoys me and I get irritated so I try and break it up into smaller pieces by not doing it all in one day.

If I have a scheduled appointment, I plan my day ahead of time and I go back to what I am doing when I come home before I have to get ready for work, I even skip my walks if I have to.

I just deal with it is all and I don't get much anxiety anymore like I used to. I used to get the lost and confusion feeling too but not anymore. I can't remember when I last felt it.

“Flustered” is the word, I believe.

I like routine, and I don't like when it changes once it's been set. I get snappy and flustered and forgetful and anxious and have Meltdowns ( my Mum called it pitching a fit or having a hissyfit pre diagnosis) I can handle it a little better when I'm given a week or more in advance that something has been changed. I typically schedule my weeks a week or two in advance. The only "acceptable" reason for a last minute change is my health, as it's a very flaky thing (I have FM so I never know how I'll feel one day to the next) and even then I have a hard time not having a meltdown about it.

The worst is when people know this and don't seem to care enough to try to keep to schedule when it involves me like it's so hard on their lives to actually stick to what they said they would do when they would do it (again, slightly more understandable if their health is an issue, but still doesn't mean I won't have problems coping.)

The rest of the day is usually lost to unproductive activity. It's extremely hard for me to pick up the thread after it's been broken like that.

Having my routine broken ruins my day, usually. Recently, it ruined six days straight, counting two days of recovery. Several years ago I had one that ruined eight days or so.

One change I tend to handle okay is going to the store at the last minute - as long as we only go to the one store and come home. Since I don't have reliable transportation, other people get to decide when I get to go buy myself food or soda or whatever. By "okay," though, I don't mean I handle it well. I mean I handle it better than other things because I do want and need to go, but it usually does break a good chunk of my day. If we go somewhere else after making my stop, I am pretty much done for the day. Usually I have warning if we stop before my stop, but hardly ever after.

Where I live because I am in care I have to have a timetable (so that the staff know what we are doing). Mine is slightly flexible as I will not freak out completely if things are not done at a certain time. Today it says I am going to Bedford after lunch. It doesn't matter what time after lunch, just any time between lunch and dinner (5:00). If I do not go to Bedford this afternoon I will either shut down or 'explode'. I have had to learn to be a little bit flexible because the bus here (only one bus!) is really unreliable.

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I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

The thing I can't cope with at all is unexpected demands, like a change to my work schedule or an unexpected social invitation. I saw on YouTube an autistic woman who burst into tears when she was invited to dinner by her own husband. For me it feels similar, except it's a panicky feeling of being hemmed in, I don't actually burst into tears. Once someone changed my work schedule at short notice. I said "What total idiot did that?". It was the boss. Oops.

Have a meltdown, usually. It also happens when too many things on my timetable clash.

Thanks guys! Now I don't feel so alone.

I get anxious and, if the change in routine is big enough, I can start yelling at the person who changed my routine, and I have actually physically lashed out several times.

i first get a meltdown and then i go to sleep to skip time and jump back in my routine asap.

If any part of my morning routine is taken out, it feels incomplete.