If you knew me before I became a real adult—you know, the kind that has their own place to live and the responsibility of taking care of another living being—you would not believe what I am about to write. I love mornings. I really do. It’s my favorite time of day and definitely the time I feel most productive. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have mornings, especially Saturdays, that I don’t give in to my desire to stay in bed just a bit longer. I’ve just come to realize that the early part of the day is the most beautiful in so many ways for me. It’s my favorite time to be outside, when the sun is still low in the sky and the only sounds to be heard are birds chirping away. In the summertime, it’s the coolest part of the day and, I will admit that the winter mornings are definitely more challenging with regards to weather and light. However, it is still the best time of day for me to get things done.
Here’s how I start my day:
5:00—alarm goes off and plant light goes on. Never press Snooze. My dog, Bear, knows that the alarm means he’s getting cuddles so he is ready to go for love
Into the bathroom where I like to do the daily Wordle—makes me feel like my brain is kickstarting. Brush teeth, rinse face and put on rowing clothes.
Feed the dogs, take my pill, get my water ready for rowing, and take the dogs out to the yard. I like to sit outside for a bit. Like I said earlier, it’s the nicest time of day for me to be outside but I always feel a bit bad that the dogs are inside all day while I’m at school. Therefore, I like to give them some extra fresh air.
5:40—Row. My cardiologist told me that rowing was the best exercise I could do for my condition so I bought an inexpensive rower off of Amazon and I started rowing. It’s not the easiest exercise, that’s for sure, and I really wasn’t consistent with it. But I decided that I really wanted to be able to row 20 minutes without stopping by the time school was over at the end of June. I wrote a schedule on a calendar as to how many minutes I should be doing by when but once I got in a groove, I’ve been able to accelerate my progress. I am currently at just over 18 minutes so I should not have any problems hitting my goal.
6:00—Shower, get dressed, dry my hair, and put on my minimal amount of makeup. If I was smart and prepped my lunch the night before, I just have to pack it. Otherwise, I’m throwing something together.
6:30—Coffee and writing. Since I’m at my clearest in the morning, it’s the best time for me to write.
6:45–7:20—Commute
7:25—Meditate. I put white noise on my phone, sit in part of my room where no one can see me from the hall, and I do my TM.
7:50—my school responsibilities begin.
I would love to hear how you start your day. Do you have routines in place or do you just go with the flow of the day? Let me know in the comments.