Good Morning Routine, Experiment
Well good morning! Okay, it's afternoon, maybe evening. I'll get to the point.
THE KIDS ARE BACK IN SCHOOL!
That's right, officially, full-day, in person (eek), masks on (yessss) and it's happening. We've had 100 talks about their focus, their need to pay attention to their cleanliness while at school, and everything else the mentally, physically, and emotionally need to know about being back, face to face, with humanity.
This isn't the point of today. TODAY, I'm experimenting with a new routine. Sunday evening I sat down and I visualized: what do I want my day to look like?
That's a really important question. Will you note that so you can journal on it later?
What I wanted: peace. I sat there visualizing; I didn't want to feel stressed or rushed. I wanted my mornings to feel peaceful. I wanted to be able to start my morning routine without stress and wrap it up feeling like I can tackle the day without my negative thoughts or distracting worries consume me. < You get like that too right? Consuming to the point of paralysis. You know what you need to do, but you'd rather eat off your left arm than move.
My alarm went off at 5:15 this am. Note: I hit snooze. Twice. Yes, can we all stop beating ourselves up for doing that? It's okay. I told myself 5:30a would be my must get up time and I did it, second snooze, I'm up. Now normally, I'd be up around 5:45 or 6a so it's not super crazy, but the difference was night and day. Literally, it was so dark out. For me, I'm draggggggging ass if it's dark out. I wandered, eyes half open and trying not to make a peep, into my closet and immediately put on my workout clothes. I put on my eyebrows and moisturized my face with the light off using only the dim light that the sunrise was trying to make through the window. I survived. 🤣
I brought Archie down with me - FIRST MISTAKE - he’s so damn sweet and distracting! My normal routine is to bring both boys down to take them potty & eat breakfast while I make my lemon water before I head upstairs to get workout clothes on and fix my face. After that, I make my pre-workout and start the day. This normally happens around 6:30 so again, not a big shift, but the mistake I made here is trying to wear too many hats. The boys had me up & down stairs several times (between me taking videos of the sunrise) as they wanted to be upstairs with everyone still sleeping. I’ll admit, we all felt a little crazy this morning.
Once I got the boys tucked back in bed with their appropriate sleep partners, I shook off the overwhelm and journaled. This is the time for me when I uncover sooooo much. It’s a time for me to sit and start with the first thing that pops up in my head causing anything other than “peace”. Most of my journal entries start with: today I feel…
And I write. Today, I stopped mid-journaling to share on video because this is where I realized, already, the issue with this mornings schedule: people pleasing, boundaries, wanting to do and be everything for everyone - does this sound familiar? Instead of leaving both dogs until the other humans woke up, I felt like it was on me to care for them, like I do every morning by choice. Chad, the girls, no one puts this on me, but as the momma… I choose it. So just as I chose to take them that early, tomorrow I’m choosing not to.
I chugged the rest of my pre-workout, let’s push play. Leg day… on a Monday. It just doesn’t seem right. Interrupted again for a peek at the bright pink sunrise… squirrel. *note: these squirrel moments remind me to slow down and soak in whatever is happening.
Resume and push play. Moving my body feels even better when my mind is clear. I can move with intention, I can squeeze with focus and I can breathe a bit deeper. 35 minutes of a 45 minute workout done and I’m cut off by needing to get kid #1 to school. >> INHALING: it’s okay. EXHALING: let’s go.
I’m in the car with the boys taking my oldest to the drop off line. We soak in all the sunshine at each stoplight before making it home to help the other child get around for the day. Lunch is packed and bangs are styled! In between - momma curls her hair, sipping her latte + listening to an audiobook. Inhale + Exhale.
And then… just like that, it’s done. We sit in the front yard, watching as my baby (13 yr old now, not so much a baby anymore) gets on the bus to start her day. Tails are wagging, sun is shinning and her smile as she hops on the bus and waves back (just as she did in kindergarten) just gives me chills. I smile back at her with the ability to burst into tears at the snap of a finger, grateful that I get to be here for this.
They’re off. The boys and I take a quick walk around the block before I headed back inside and out to the backyard for an IG live. I looked, the last IG LIVE I did was in November of 2020, right before my 30+ day social media break. That video started playing and I couldn’t get very far into it before shutting it off, with gratitude that I’m no longer in that place.
Through the chaos, this morning felt good. It felt good to breathe, to write, to move, to smile.
Through the chaos, I could identify what aligned and what didn’t.
Through the chaos, I became intentional about noticing.
Tomorrow I’ll be tweaking it and I’m sure, Wednesday will be adjusted also. For now, I’m just in love with the process of figuring it all out.
PS: If you’re feeling stuck, my Gap Finder Journal has been a huge tool for me in figuring out the process of recreating a routine! Check it out.
xx Raina
