The familiar routine can protect dignity when other parts of life have become uncertain.

When much stops being predictable, small fixed points do more work than before. Getting dressed a particular way, the same walk, the same chair at the same hour: these are not habits any more but a way of remaining recognisably yourself while other things are being decided by circumstances. Dignity often lives in details that look trivial from outside.

Supporting someone through an uncertain stretch, ask which parts of the day they want kept exactly as they are. Then protect those, even when they are inconvenient. And if it is your own uncertain stretch, choosing what stays fixed is one of the things still yours to choose.