Morning Routines

image via angela mayhoe

Finding a Morning Flow

I never adopted a morning routine. I wake up, roll out of bed and unwillingly begin my day. I slowly move along a path that drags me throughout my space until I miraculously have on clothes, keys in hand and I’m walking out the door. I would equate my movements to a stubborn dog’s dead weight drop as its owner embarrassingly drags it through the grass. Unfortunately for me, there’s never a bag of treats to entice a faster pace.

On Sundays, I sleep in way too late and enjoy an oat milk cappuccino in bed. This is my best work, having a slow morning, reflecting and sipping until noon. The energy moves differently on Sunday mornings - the mourning doves soften their coo, the air lazily meander through the trees and my upstairs neighbor with the lead foot sleeps in for an extra hour. This by far, is my favorite morning, Sundays.

Recently, I've been waking up earlier during the week. One morning I woke up at 4a. I felt an overwhelming amount of love devour my entire being - so I prayed. My other early mornings have been around 6:45a. I believe my subconscious chose this time because once I watched an interview with Athena Calderone and that's the time she wakes up, I love her! This awakening happened several times once I decided to stop drinking night caps, so I went along with it. I decided that this will be my new weekday writing time. I make a non-Sunday oat milk cappuccino and sip the foamy delight at my desk while I work on my next big opportunity that will finally allow me to leave my retail job and live my destined life as a creative.

The one consistent part of my morning is my meditation ritual. This is a necessary staple that has kept me grounded and non reactive during my daily rat race of appeasing clients and their wacky demands. I'm known for my patience and abilities to talk people "off the ledge" during major retail crisis. Luxury retail is a different beast and juggling clients issues like accidentally sending a package to their penthouse in New York instead of their ranch in Wyoming can get a bit hairy. This is when I recall my state of zen that I conjured for 15 minutes earlier that morning to put things back into perspective.

I still haven't mastered including yoga into the mix. I was attending a 7a yoga class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The studio was a short block away; I could leave my apartment at 6:45a and still be early to check in, nab a good spot and pretend to do pre-game stretches with the other early birds yogis. This changed once the pandemic hit. The studio closed and I resorted to sleeping in every morning and pretending it was Sunday for 2 months.

However it begins, I have become more open to creating a morning routine. Maybe one day I'll nail the perfect landing and stick with it. For now, I'll just go with a flow and pretend that there’s always a bag of treats on the other side of my room to get me out of bed.