Like most people, I’m not a huge fan of change. I like my plans and my routine and being able to have a reasonable expectation about how my day will unfold.

But the title of this post is tongue-in-cheek, because of course not all change is bad. There are plenty of wonderful changes in the world—new people to love, new jobs to tackle, new areas of growth in our lives, and so much more.

Recently I’ve been thinking about change by coming face to face with some things that weren’t working for me anymore. For example, my entire adult life I’ve made it a habit to run errands on Monday. It felt good to get them out of the way early in the week. I’d prep on the weekends, have a big day on Monday, and then be ready for the rest of the week.

Sometime recently, however, this approached stopped being helpful. I can’t even pinpoint why, but suddenly running errands on Monday made me anxious. I felt rushed and restless on Sundays and I wouldn’t sleep well on Sunday nights, leaving me with little reserve for a long day. Instead of a good start to the week, I would feel exhausted and depleted. Something needed to change.

I’ve now reordered my week to run errands on a different day, and this has been very good for me. Now my Sundays are restful, I’m sleeping well again, and it feels wonderful to ease my way through Monday instead of barreling into it full steam ahead.

It takes a level of bravery—or desperation—for someone who likes routine to make a change to something that has worked for years. But when something in our lives stops working, there’s great value in being able to own that fact and ask the Lord to show us ways we can help ourselves.

Another recent area of change involves my bedtime routine. I live in a multi-generational household, which comes with its own set of joys and challenges. Often my help is needed late into the evening, so getting to bed at a good time sometimes feels impossible. When the amount of sleep I was getting started dipping lower and lower, I realized I had to make a change or I would never survive the demands of the end of the school year. I’ve now changed the order of my bedtime routine so that I can take care of myself as well as my family, and I’m regularly getting 1-1.5 more hours of sleep each night than I was just a couple weeks ago.

This is another very good change. When I’m more rested, everything about life is a little easier!

If I wasn’t willing to look at the problems in my life, I’d still be stuck in patterns that were harming me. I needed to be willing to accept change in order to embrace the peace and health they’ve brought to me.

As much as I thrive in routine, sometimes I thrive in change even better.

If there are some healthy changes you’d like to make in your life, there’s rarely a better time than today.