I chuckled at “getting up earlier” because that’s exactly what I started doing this summer. I wouldn’t have to if I could just leave the phone alone, but the plus of it has been that I see the sun rise and listen to the birds waking up. It also means that my slow morning routine is complete while it’s still cool enough to work in the garden and I’m seeing the fruits of this practice. (In Florida, if you’re not out there by 7:30, it gets too hot too quickly)
As the weather gets cooler, I should add a morning walk to my routine. Maybe I will, but for now I’ll continue writing in my journal, reading my book for 15 minutes and making my plan for the day as these are the things that keep me sane and focused.
Thanks as always for joining me on the patio this morning.
Yellow 😊 Every time I see one of those lists online, I think “How am I supposed to know that you want me to not use my phone if your advice is online?” However, I could see the benefit of not doing so 1st thing. It is the anchor of my mornings, though. Coffee, Wordle, check weather, check family updates in their various chat groups and then wraps up with making sure the boys have made it to their morning destinations (or at least their phones have 😬).
A shake up of routine might be a good thing. Have a great Sunday (whenever you see this 🤭)
- I open the door for the dogs, then fill up food and water bowls around the house. I toast a cinnamon swirl bagel and make myself an iced coffee. I take my morning meds and return to my room.
- On a good morning, my youngest child is still asleep. During waking hours, he demands that I not leave the room for more than a few minutes, which limits my ability to complete tasks around the rest of the house. On a good day I can empty the dishwasher or start a load of laundry before I make my coffee.
- Then I pick up my phone. I have a bad habit of watching a tv show at the same time, which I can’t usually follow while I’m reading emails or Instagram posts. Some mornings I wake up inspired to draw something in my journal that I didn’t get to the night before, but sometimes I get involved in scrolling and run out of time. It is very easy for me to get sucked into something and run out of time.
If I could add something to this routine, it would be meditation. My house is very full of distractors, and while I am pretty good at tuning things out, it has dampened my enthusiasm.
I look at my phone before I get out of bed every single day. 😔 I tell myself it's because my mother is elderly and lives alone, so I check to make sure that there are no calls I've missed from her. But it's also to feed my secret dopamine addiction. What have I missed in the online worlds??
I like writing morning pages. More than anything else, it's just my quiet time. I usually play quiet classical or jazz music and just write and sip coffee. But I'm on again off again with the practice. I'm not a morning person in any way, shape, or form. Most work days, I wake up with barely the slice of time required to turn on the coffee maker, throw on some clothes, and log into work. 😕 I've tried so many times to force myself to bed earlier, to wake sooner, to change this nasty habit, but mornings are very difficult for me. They always have been. I'm trying to accept that I'm just a night person and that it's ok, but it feels awful to constantly wake up feeling dragged directly to the desk.
Thanks, as always, for your lovely writing to start my Sunday. 💙💜🩷
Axis, acapella, asinine. My morning routine is usually to scroll on my phone a few minutes, care for my son and pets, and start on housework. As soon as I wake up, the to do list starts forming in my mind and I feel like I need to get busy and get things done. I've been getting better at taking a few minutes for myself here and there throughout the day, but I wish my mornings were less hectic.
Mango. My morning normally includes checking he weather, planning my day, fixing breakfast and weighing myself. Your post was a good reminder that I want to go back to setting an intention for the day as soon as I wake up. Some gratitude lists would be a good idea too. Avarice, anteater and artichoke.
Love the sketch notes/illustrations in this post , Amy.
Color: orange.
3 words: adept, angelic, antagonist
This week I’ve been pretty sleepy in the mornings and thinking more about my late night routine/productivity habits since that’s when I’ve been able to prioritize writing pages for a writing challenge with self-imposed deadlines. I’m just under halfway done with the challenge. Personally, I seem to have low creative focus in the mornings before work and the least amount of mental energy late afternoons/early evenings; plus lots of household/extracurricular obligations between 5-8:30ish, so I’ve been writing for this challenge/project between 9 and midnight.
Curious if all the Instagram followers you lost were just accounts that left the platform. I haven’t quit that platform or unfollowed anyone recently but I’m on it less and less these days.
There is no yoga or writing of affirmations or meditation or walking around the block in the dark, no chugging of water, with or without lemon.” This made me chuckle Amy. My morning: let the dogs out, coffee, CBS Mornings while I check email/texts, Wordle + Connections, then Words With Friends (yep, I still play with about 4-5). I’m curious about the parrots in your area...how far are you from the fellow who has the documentary out? (Was that Telegraph Hill or Twin Peaks?) Whichever, very cool :)
"What about the wedge of morning, a sliver, just before that?" - I like the idea of a little carve-out, like shaking the package to see if you can guess what's there before you open it. But, I worry about setting myself up for failure. Like you, I justify checking the phone for messages from my faraway family, and then one thing leads to the next. Perhaps I could constrain myself to looking for those, and to replying only if they warrant instant response, which they usually don't. No reels, or stories, or goofy app videos. No going off to see what waits for me in email. Thanks for the idea.
Color: Rust
Words: Aspire, attachment, adjust
Thanks, Amy....always good to think things through with you.
I would like to do a little doodling/writing/creative bit first thing in the morning with my coffee. Usually it’s email, Instagram, to do list. Maybe I could work in paper and pencil before that... I’m enjoying ending my evening with drawing lately, why not begin it too!
Instagram is weird anymore. It’s definitely not the clowns. I love the clowns!
Amy I loved this post so much and I am coming back to comment- I feel pressured to make “substantive” comments that “count” on substack, I don’t know if that makes them harder or easier for you to read and respond to! I’ve given a critical look at my morning routines based on working through “the artist’s way” over the past couple months. I do the morning pages and I never, never, never thought that would be me, until I finally picked up that book! Thank you again for that book recco and for all you to keep up the dialog about our creativity and how we approach it in the context of our days/lives/worlds. I really wouldn’t be where I am now in my creative journey if it weren’t for your podcasts, substack, FB group, and everything else.
I am an (extremely) early riser. And I cherish the quiet darkness of the wee hours before the sun ☀️ rises each day.
These early hours have always been the only time I can write freely and uninterrupted by my easily-distractible brain or other miscellaneous daily tangents.
☮️ These hours are the foundation of peace for me. I need literal hours of stillness daily.
I chuckled at “getting up earlier” because that’s exactly what I started doing this summer. I wouldn’t have to if I could just leave the phone alone, but the plus of it has been that I see the sun rise and listen to the birds waking up. It also means that my slow morning routine is complete while it’s still cool enough to work in the garden and I’m seeing the fruits of this practice. (In Florida, if you’re not out there by 7:30, it gets too hot too quickly)
As the weather gets cooler, I should add a morning walk to my routine. Maybe I will, but for now I’ll continue writing in my journal, reading my book for 15 minutes and making my plan for the day as these are the things that keep me sane and focused.
Thanks as always for joining me on the patio this morning.
Yellow 😊 Every time I see one of those lists online, I think “How am I supposed to know that you want me to not use my phone if your advice is online?” However, I could see the benefit of not doing so 1st thing. It is the anchor of my mornings, though. Coffee, Wordle, check weather, check family updates in their various chat groups and then wraps up with making sure the boys have made it to their morning destinations (or at least their phones have 😬).
A shake up of routine might be a good thing. Have a great Sunday (whenever you see this 🤭)
- I open the door for the dogs, then fill up food and water bowls around the house. I toast a cinnamon swirl bagel and make myself an iced coffee. I take my morning meds and return to my room.
- On a good morning, my youngest child is still asleep. During waking hours, he demands that I not leave the room for more than a few minutes, which limits my ability to complete tasks around the rest of the house. On a good day I can empty the dishwasher or start a load of laundry before I make my coffee.
- Then I pick up my phone. I have a bad habit of watching a tv show at the same time, which I can’t usually follow while I’m reading emails or Instagram posts. Some mornings I wake up inspired to draw something in my journal that I didn’t get to the night before, but sometimes I get involved in scrolling and run out of time. It is very easy for me to get sucked into something and run out of time.
If I could add something to this routine, it would be meditation. My house is very full of distractors, and while I am pretty good at tuning things out, it has dampened my enthusiasm.
Acrimonious, abnormal, a silver assault.
Amorphous, anachronism, apparition
Turquoise (tur-kwahz), attitude, angel, assemblage.
I look at my phone before I get out of bed every single day. 😔 I tell myself it's because my mother is elderly and lives alone, so I check to make sure that there are no calls I've missed from her. But it's also to feed my secret dopamine addiction. What have I missed in the online worlds??
I like writing morning pages. More than anything else, it's just my quiet time. I usually play quiet classical or jazz music and just write and sip coffee. But I'm on again off again with the practice. I'm not a morning person in any way, shape, or form. Most work days, I wake up with barely the slice of time required to turn on the coffee maker, throw on some clothes, and log into work. 😕 I've tried so many times to force myself to bed earlier, to wake sooner, to change this nasty habit, but mornings are very difficult for me. They always have been. I'm trying to accept that I'm just a night person and that it's ok, but it feels awful to constantly wake up feeling dragged directly to the desk.
Thanks, as always, for your lovely writing to start my Sunday. 💙💜🩷
A words: Attitude
Alchemy
Anarchy
Each more visceral that the previous
I’ve written for years about morning routines. How I plan one out and it lasts for, oh, a day.
Morning and disability really don’t mix. Too many things take too long. So I stick with
1. Getting out of bed
2. Showering (not every day)/dressing
3. Writing exercise
After that, in no particular order: breakfast, time outdoors, writing for Substack.
Email, I don’t want to think about.
Coffee, not necessary, but I like the taste of it.
And I’m not good at putting the NYT Spelling Bee off till later in the day.
Axis, acapella, asinine. My morning routine is usually to scroll on my phone a few minutes, care for my son and pets, and start on housework. As soon as I wake up, the to do list starts forming in my mind and I feel like I need to get busy and get things done. I've been getting better at taking a few minutes for myself here and there throughout the day, but I wish my mornings were less hectic.
Mango. My morning normally includes checking he weather, planning my day, fixing breakfast and weighing myself. Your post was a good reminder that I want to go back to setting an intention for the day as soon as I wake up. Some gratitude lists would be a good idea too. Avarice, anteater and artichoke.
Love the sketch notes/illustrations in this post , Amy.
Color: orange.
3 words: adept, angelic, antagonist
This week I’ve been pretty sleepy in the mornings and thinking more about my late night routine/productivity habits since that’s when I’ve been able to prioritize writing pages for a writing challenge with self-imposed deadlines. I’m just under halfway done with the challenge. Personally, I seem to have low creative focus in the mornings before work and the least amount of mental energy late afternoons/early evenings; plus lots of household/extracurricular obligations between 5-8:30ish, so I’ve been writing for this challenge/project between 9 and midnight.
Curious if all the Instagram followers you lost were just accounts that left the platform. I haven’t quit that platform or unfollowed anyone recently but I’m on it less and less these days.
“My mornings are fine. They involve screens.
There is no yoga or writing of affirmations or meditation or walking around the block in the dark, no chugging of water, with or without lemon.” This made me chuckle Amy. My morning: let the dogs out, coffee, CBS Mornings while I check email/texts, Wordle + Connections, then Words With Friends (yep, I still play with about 4-5). I’m curious about the parrots in your area...how far are you from the fellow who has the documentary out? (Was that Telegraph Hill or Twin Peaks?) Whichever, very cool :)
"What about the wedge of morning, a sliver, just before that?" - I like the idea of a little carve-out, like shaking the package to see if you can guess what's there before you open it. But, I worry about setting myself up for failure. Like you, I justify checking the phone for messages from my faraway family, and then one thing leads to the next. Perhaps I could constrain myself to looking for those, and to replying only if they warrant instant response, which they usually don't. No reels, or stories, or goofy app videos. No going off to see what waits for me in email. Thanks for the idea.
Color: Rust
Words: Aspire, attachment, adjust
Thanks, Amy....always good to think things through with you.
Red is the first color that came to mind in my active, amusing, and amazing day!
I would like to do a little doodling/writing/creative bit first thing in the morning with my coffee. Usually it’s email, Instagram, to do list. Maybe I could work in paper and pencil before that... I’m enjoying ending my evening with drawing lately, why not begin it too!
Instagram is weird anymore. It’s definitely not the clowns. I love the clowns!
Airy. Applesauce. Accept.
Amy I loved this post so much and I am coming back to comment- I feel pressured to make “substantive” comments that “count” on substack, I don’t know if that makes them harder or easier for you to read and respond to! I’ve given a critical look at my morning routines based on working through “the artist’s way” over the past couple months. I do the morning pages and I never, never, never thought that would be me, until I finally picked up that book! Thank you again for that book recco and for all you to keep up the dialog about our creativity and how we approach it in the context of our days/lives/worlds. I really wouldn’t be where I am now in my creative journey if it weren’t for your podcasts, substack, FB group, and everything else.
🟧 orange / adaptive, astonished, accentuate
I am an (extremely) early riser. And I cherish the quiet darkness of the wee hours before the sun ☀️ rises each day.
These early hours have always been the only time I can write freely and uninterrupted by my easily-distractible brain or other miscellaneous daily tangents.
☮️ These hours are the foundation of peace for me. I need literal hours of stillness daily.