Why avoid studying when you can go to a cafe and listen to your perfectly curated study playlist with a coffee?
Romanticizing your routines, or finding ways to make ordinary activities feel more special, can make a huge difference in your life.
We have all seen the dreamy videos on TikTok or Instagram, especially now that fall is here. The carefully planned places, the fashion and the cozy aesthetic all create a vibe that looks more exciting and appealing than our daily lives, so of course we want to include it in our routines because it makes simple tasks more enjoyable.
From walking campus to staying up all night to studying for an important exam, somehow, romanticizing your routines makes it better.
I can confirm. I romanticize my routines by buying highlighters to take notes and follow a strict routine during the day.
Last year, I romanticized my coursework by studying at the Indiana Memorial Union every day, even if I wasn’t actually studying. I spent most of my time there because it was a beautiful place with a conveniently located Starbucks, so I would order coffee every time too. I don’t do this anymore, but at that time, it made studying more enjoyable.
My idea was to make something mundane into something I actually looked forward to by creating an environment that made me feel like I was in a movie instead of doing schoolwork.
But after two months into the semester, I burned myself out.
Don’t get me wrong, romanticizing your routine is a great way to discover what you like because it encourages you to experiment with changes that may end up making you feel good. But I somehow turned the will I had to wear cute outfits into a must that I had to do every day.
At some point, I stopped romanticizing my life and started to depend on the aesthetic to make my everyday routines feel more interesting.
The coffee, the Pinterest outfits and the perfect study spot and playlist were things that became part of the formula. If I didn’t have them, studying would feel worse, and a normal day would feel less exciting. Eventually, I had to convince myself that dressing up cute was worthwhile when the only thing planned for the day was to do homework.
It became exhausting.
There’s a big difference between dressing up and going out because you want to and doing it just because if you don’t, you won’t get anything done.
Social media doesn’t help with this either.
The videos about romanticizing simple tasks or routines look effortless. However, that is often a carefully constructed version of moments designed to be watched. The places influencers walk through look like they’re straight from a movie. The outfit is carefully chosen, and the study notes are so well taken that even you, as a viewer, want to read them.
Of course we want that. Who wouldn’t want their life to feel like a movie?
I do, and I tried. But we are not in a movie.
Sometimes I study in bed. Sometimes I stay all weekend in my apartment because walking is too much. Sometimes I wake up and put on the same hoodie I wore yesterday. And sometimes I do homework in a random building because it’s the closest to my next class.
And that’s fine.
Romanticizing your life should make little moments feel special, not tire you out.
There are some days when I want to dress up nicely and finish my homework before noon hits. But there are other days when I don’t want to get up from my bed.
Both days are fine. And I still feel like a movie character in both. Not because nothing exciting is happening, but because the little details make an ordinary day feel more intentional.
Maybe the goal isn’t romanticizing every single second of our lives. Maybe it’s noticing the small moments when we want to do something out of our daily routine and romanticize it.
Astrid Alomia (she/her) is a sophomore studying journalism with a concentration in public relations and a minor in marketing and dance.
