Your Morning Routine

[Gráinne]

I have done it . Second morning of my "perfect morning" picture of rise, inspiration, swim and get ready for work.

Even though "go to work" for a couple more weeks means "walk into my home office and switch on computer", I've been using this time as a kind of dress rehearsal for the real thing-refining my bag, timing (including mock driving to work from the gym), that sort of thing.

I refined the routine, also. I added music, exclusively upbeat or rocking tunes. Whatever makes me bop in the seat or even shake it in the bedroom . I added a site of inspirational quotes to my morning reading. I had to eliminate all news sites and anything political (including the election thread on this site). If that makes me out of touch, oh well. This has begun something deeper than the original question, at least for me.

I feel nothing less than a crusade for taking radical care of myself emotionally, spiritually and physically. This is very different than how I operate.

You know how you paint or redecorate a room, and then the rest of the house is "ugh"? I thought, well, if this "positive things only" movement benefits the morning, what's up with watching Maury and the like in the afternoons with that parade of dysfunction and stress? Why does lunch break down to a fistful of cookies? Dinner ordered from a box? And we won't talk about my sleep habits. I already know that my ADHD self needs order and beauty in my home. When the house is messy, I'm messy. I have some work to do.

Convicted again. I can't tell my students about being their best selves and then go home to Chips Ahoy, trash TV and a growing archaeological dig of laundry in my bedroom (with its unmade bed).

Maybe self-care is a ever growing project, with no time that you fully "get it" but rather you evolve to deeper layers. So rather than beat myself up, maybe it's more caring to say "It's just now that you're seeing the dust on your soul; forgive yourself, grab a rag, and go to work".