With TikTok being such a big part of our lives, it’s not a surprise that its trends are influencing us for better or worse. After we put most of our dreams and even lives on hold since 2020, some of us feel like we need to be productive and get back control of our lives. Young girls feel pressured to follow a “that girl” routine, and it might not be as healthy as it looks.
In such a routine, it’s typical for girls to wake up as early as 5 am and get ready. After using the bathroom and doing some skincare, you do some journaling, affirmations, and gratitude. Then, you do meditation, yoga, and workout. Lastly, you take a shower and make yourself a yummy healthy breakfast. After all that, you’re finally able to start your work shift or go to school.
This sort of routine doesn’t account for whether or not the woman has kids, a 9-5 job, or anything else. 99% of people don’t have a few hours to spare in the morning to have such an overwhelming routine. Also, if you were to sleep 8 hours a night and wake up at 5 am, that would mean you would have to go to sleep at 9 pm. It’s very hard to find an adult who sleeps that early.
Why do I say that? As someone who loves having a busy routine, I can see the appeal of having a “that girl” routine. I followed a version of that last year, and the result was that I had two burnouts. At the beginning of 2021, I started writing my book, teaching English through Google Meet, and taking a Social Psychology course online. I had also started practicing yoga and meditation and had gone back to working out consistently.
For that reason, I started waking up at 6:30 am and going to bed at 10:30 pm. Sometimes my family wanted to watch tv shows with me for longer, but I wouldn’t budge because I knew I wouldn’t feel good if I didn’t get my 8 hours of sleep. By June, I was exhausted from this crazy routine and gradually felt dissatisfied with it as I wasn’t spending as much time with my family as I would’ve liked despite still being in pandemic days. During that time, I cooked for myself every morning and night, but I cooked less and less from January to June.
But the worst burnout came in the second semester of 2021. On top of my “that girl” routine, I wrote my autobiography in 24 days (in August) through an online writing class and taught English classes (both online and in-person) Monday through Saturday. During those months, I worked in the morning after finishing my routine, afternoon and night. If that wasn’t hectic enough, I also published my book and sold it by December. My routine was so busy that I didn’t feel hungry most of the time and either ate very healthily or super unhealthily, depending on the day. And yet, I lost a lot of weight (probably in an unhealthy way).
The thing was that I didn’t have enough time to think about anything other than work. This is why I know my tendencies toward becoming the perfect workaholic. That made me realize how having a more flexible routine is the best thing I can do for myself. I know that as a journalist, I’ll have a busy life, but with what I know now, I can easily create a routine that works for me instead of harming me. Having variety in it and implementing more rest are two of my main goals.
My concern for “that girl” routine for young girls is that implementing it is that it allows them to pressure and judge themselves if they don’t follow it. It also promotes comparison and unrealistic competition. So, in a way, it makes us more stressed, and if you are familiar with health psychology, you know that stress can work through many pathways to make you ill if not taken care of. This is one of those instances in which I believe the online world is harming us because people seem to be so focused on “glowing up” and becoming prettier that they forget that what they’re doing might be causing more harm than good.
However, the main thing for me is that a “that girl” routine can look completely different day-to-day. One day, you might eat all your fruits and veggies and not eat them the next day. It’s about variety and what makes you feel good, not what looks good for the camera. At the end of the day, you are doing it for yourself, aren’t you? It’s okay if you don’t work out every day, and being unproductive for a full day can be productive because you’re resting. We need to change our mindset and adjust our goals to fit a lifestyle that really helps us in the long run. But, speaking from experience, it’s not a “that girl” routine in the sense that it’s shown in a TikTok or YouTube video because your life isn’t a highlight reel.