Do you agree or disagree with the following statement:
My morning sets the tone for the rest of my day.
It’s taken me a couple of decades to figure out, but I’ve learned that my mornings definitely set the tone for the rest of my day. I do most of my writing in the morning – it’s my most creative time – and if I enter into the fray feeling frazzled, the bad vibe either escalates needlessly or makes me grumpy and annoyed.
It dawned on me this morning that the way I wake up has changed, immeasurably, for the better. (At least for the time being.) There are a few reasons for this.
1) I don’t pack lunches or need to haul the kids out of bed anymore. This is thanks to alarm clocks and self-sufficient offspring. As long as there are some groceries in the house, they are largely left to their own devices.
2) Mark’s alarm clock doesn’t startle me awake anymore, something I didn’t I fully appreciate until we got a new one. I hated waking up angry at the thing all the time, and I didn’t realize how crazy it made me until I won a Phillips wake-up light; the light turns on gradually and in lieu of a buzzer or annoying radio show host we hear birds chirping. It’s so subtle I don’t even hear it from my side of the side.
I am so grateful there is no jarring BEEP BEEP BEEP blaring from his side of the bed anymore!
3) The blinds we chose for our bedroom aren’t complete light blockers (as you can see here). I made this choice from a design perspective more than anything, but it turned out to be a good option for me, especially as someone who suffers from a degree of SAD. It allows just enough light to come in to wake me slowly, because of this I wake up naturally, gradually, without an alarm. And you know what, I’m happier getting out of bed than I used to be when the bedroom was pitch black. It makes a huge difference.
4) I work from home, so unless I have a meeting booked, the only appointment I have in the morning is with my treadmill, so I’m not rushing around like a mad woman.
In terms of night-before habits: the last thing I do before I go to bed is review my schedule for the next day (I hate worrying in bed), and leave my iPhone on the charger downstairs. And then I pick up my book. Reading puts me to sleep pretty quickly, which is a mixed blessing as it takes me forever to get through a book.
This routine sounds pretty good, but it’s far from perfect. We need to buy a new bed and mattress and are suffering from shopping paralysis and General Indescision in regards to whether we stick with a queen size bed or move up to king. Because that would mean we’d need all new bedding… and you know what I’m like about bedding, right? Sigh.
