Mornings

I’m not a morning person. At all. In fact, if I could skip the entire morning and get to the afternoon, I would be fine. And on the weekends, that’s pretty much what happens. I’m knocked out until it’s time for brunch, the #realhappyhour, in my opinion. This happens because I’m what my grandmother would call ‘a night owl’. I’m most productive at night. My rush of productive energy comes around 10,11,12 at night. Unfortunately. This is the time I clean my apartment, do the laundry, write, read novels, have great ideas for my life, and make grand plans to take over the world. So it is totally understandable that when I do finally end up going to bed around 2 am, I am completely exhausted and dreading waking up in the morning. This happens every single night, like clockwork.

But I have been trying to change that because I really want to be a morning person. I see these bubbly morning people walking around in the sunshine, jogging when there are other people around (I jog at night), smiling with each other. Basically adding years to their life, according to scientific studies, and I want it. I want to live in the light. So, I’ve been trying to do that for months with only small moments of success. This month though, I think I may be getting closer. I’ve been trying to create a morning routine that allows me to cover some of the things that are important to me. And here is what I’ve come up with so far.

Go to bed earlier

Ironically, the most important part of this morning routine happens at night. It is also the hardest part for me, but without it, the rest is almost impossible. That important element is going to bed early. Our bodies need the sleep, in order to feel rested enough to get up early the next day. So, I set a cut off time for my ‘nightly activities’. Then I try to quickly get them done before that time. If I’m not done by then, I force myself to leave them for the daytime, which is when most of these activities should be done anyway.

Get out of bed early

Once I've had a few hours of good sleep, waking up the next morning is no problem for me. The next hurdle, however, usually comes when it is time for me to physically get out of bed. There are times I wake up at about 5:30 in the morning, but I don’t get out of bed until around 6:30 or later. So, that’s an entire hour of falling back to sleep every ten minutes, after snoozing the alarm, or even worst, an hour of checking social media for no reason at all. It is a miserable time to be honest, but I still kind of just lay there. Then when I do finally get out of bed, it is a mad rush to get ready.

For the last month, however, that has slowly been changing. What I have been doing is, when I wake up, I count to ten slowly, taking deep breaths as I count. Then, I consciously decide to put my feet on the floor. This has been helping.

Breakfast time / Reflection time

I don’t often eat breakfast in the mornings because I’m not usually hungry that early in the day. But what I have really come to enjoy, is a cup of coffee or green tea in the morning. I use this as my reflection time. I relax, clear my mind and try to get in the frame of mind to start a new day. I sit by my open window, with my tea and let the cool breeze wash over me for a few minutes. This is what really wakes me up in the morning. Then with a clear mind, I go about getting dressed for the day.

Take it slow

I think the main reason this routine has been working for me, is because of its simplicity. It also has a key element that was missing from all my previous attempts, which is, taking it slow. My mornings used to be rushed and I had to do everything seemingly without taking a breath. I think that is why I hated mornings. It felt like a lot of work. But now that it has been slowed down, there is a strong possibility I might even grow to love it.

I’m only a beginner when it comes to effective morning routines, so I have opted to keep my list small and simple. Later I might add a few more things, for instance, jogging in the mornings instead of at night. Or going for a morning stroll, so I can see some of the happy faces of the morning people. But that will come eventually, for now, simplicity is best. The point is to take control of our mornings and not allow it to get away from us. So, let’s just keep it simple and take it slow. We will master this morning business in no time.