A Morning Routine Before Sunrise
“Go big or go home.” — Anonymous
Whoever said this…they definitely had the right idea. I love the thought of doing something extreme for no reason whatsoever; such a rush that the extroverted part of my brain oh, so craves.
Since being the morning person that I say I am to be, I decided on taking this definition to the most irrelevant/highest possible level as I’ve seen others in attempting. In deciding this, I hadn’t really much expectation other than to be napping by 10:00 a.m., but to my surprise, after just one day, I felt as if my whole world shifted in the best way possible.
4:30 a.m.: Alarm went off, I pressed snoozed and lied myself back in bed questioning every decision leading up to this point. After a minute or two of contemplation, I got up, poured myself a cup of water, then sat myself on the floor to stretch/realign my focus and quiet my intrusive thoughts that began the second my alarm woke. Along with waking my body up and turning my unwanted thoughts down, I wrote in one of my [many] notebooks:
Energy Givers:
- Stretching
- Mindfulness
- Writing
- Water
- Sunlight
- Forgiveness/acceptance
Energy Drainers:
- Overthinking/self-indulgence
- Too much screen time
- Music that fuels negative emotions
- Trying to control an outside situation/another person
Q #1: What is today for?
A: Cleansing self of the previous few days of heaviness, realigning focus on what is truly important to self, and crossing things off my to-do list.
Q #2: What is important right now?
A: Thinking present tense and obtaining useful thoughts, bringing attention to what truly matters, and existing simply, moment by moment.
Random Notes:
- Life is mostly improvisation
- I am a menial contribution to the universe — there is fairly little that should be taken personal/is about me
- Think balanced, rounded out thoughts
- Feeling more awake after stretching ☼ (:
5:15 a.m. (roughly): After making my bed, I was beyond ready for coffee: banana almond milk, Starbucks’ pre-made iced dark roast, topped with sweet cream.
Next to my coffee, I sat myself at my desk only to realize I had no inspiration for a new blog post…After a few minutes of mere typing twaddle, the blog post began writing itself.
I’ll be honest, when I looked at the clock inching towards 6:00 a.m., it felt enlightening to know I was writing before the world was even awake.
6:32 a.m. (I remember looking at the time when I did this, hence the specificity): Set up and changed for my usual work out.
7:15 a.m.: Shower time!
7:30 a.m.: Put a load of laundry on, then off to the kitchen I went to make breakfast: Brown sugar/banana (I love banana) oatmeal and crispy hashbrown coins. As I ate breakfast, I read from “100 Great Poems of the Twentieth Century.” (10/10 recommend that book, by the way!)
8:15 a.m.: Cleaned up from breakfast, went upstairs and got ready for the day.
9:45 a.m.: I walked out the door to begin my day of errands.
11:00 a.m.: Treated myself to a smoothie and waffle before heading home.
Following my regular routine as such, I wouldn’t have even left the house by 11:00 a.m.
Surprisingly enough, I didn’t nap or even feel the need to throughout any part of the day. I felt good; clear-minded and enlightened. I also fell asleep rather quickly that night and had a restful sleep, which is rare for me.
Though, I don’t think I’ll be committing myself to this extreme way of mornings just yet, but definitely something I will be partaking from time to time. Possibly tweak my current routine with a few upgraded habits from this morning.
Though waking up at 4:30 a.m. to quiet your mind (even though you were the one who got it going) doesn’t sound too appealing, I definitely recommend trying out your own version of an extreme morning routine. Maybe you’ll find new habits you can start incorporating into your current routine as well!
