Waking up slowly:
If there’s one thing I’ve become, it’s definitely a morning person. No longer can I sleep past 6 or 7 in the morning. I have to admit however, that I don’t hate it. In fact, I now find myself going to bed early just so that my early mornings will be easier and I actually look forward to them.
There’s something to say about waking up and having three hours or so to yourself before you’re “on the clock” and I never quite saw the beauty in that, till recently. Don’t get me wrong, sleep is wonderful too, but now I just do it a bit earlier. I regularly find myself waking up between 6 and 7 wide awake and well rested (at least 3 or 4 of the weekdays) before work.
So what do I do with all that extra time?
Well, for one I stay in bed usually. Some people are morning people in the sense that they get out of bed right at 6 and that’s it, they’re off for the day. I’ve decided to take a bit of a slower, or more gradual approach to my getting going. Like I said, having that time to yourself before you start work, is what I find to be most enjoyable. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a commute in a few years that I’ve been able to build in this habit of waking up slowly.
Whatever the cause, the effect has been great. I get to relax immediately after resting all night? Winning. I try to make a point not to open my emails or look at social media as I get going as well. Instead, I treated myself to a NYT subscription and still have access to my parents digital Boston Globe (thanks Ma and Dad!) so that’s my “morning scroll”. Again, for some, the mindless scroll through social media might be exactly the way they want to wake up. But for me at least, I’ve found this to be best. Other mornings, I’ll pick up a book on my side table (see my list of pandemic reading from an earlier post) or read one on my kindle or phone. I don’t think I’ve ever read as much as I’ve read since the pandemic began.
And some mornings I will totally ignore all of what I’m writing about here and sleep in, or I will get up and get going, or I’ll be feeling extra ambitious and work out or do yoga, or cook a very involved breakfast before work. But more days than not, I find myself doing some version of the above.
Making my job easier:
I’ve found three tools that really take the relaxation to the next level. They really force you to lean into it as they assist in different ways. Here they are:
Eye Mask for Dry Eyes – Moist Heat Microwave Activated Warm Compress – this is something I should have bought years ago, and really everyone should (hello screen time eyes). I have something called chronic dry eye (which oddly looks a lot like eyes that tear up really easily – the opposite of what you’d guess) and this is the best kept secret for it. My ophthalmologist has been trying to convince me to use warm compresses at night and in the morning for a few years (to help with double vision strain as well as pressure/pain/dryness) but I never built it into my routine. Now, here we are, with three hours to relax every weekday morning. I pop this in my microwave for 20 seconds after getting up, then crawl back in bed (with the stillpoint tool below and insight timer playing) and use this. Some mornings I feel like I just shut my eyes and then it’s 9 am. Other mornings I really have to force myself to lay there for the full 5 minutes (the full benefits of the stillpoint tool take about 5 min) before I want to take the mask off and get going on whatever’s next.
Cranio cradle stillpoint tool – this came highly recommended when I started doing body work a few months ago. Basically it does the work at home in between body work sessions for me. The tool works to relieve pressure off the nervous system and it also comes with a booklet on how to use it for different things. I typically on use it as a still point tool under my neck for about 5 minutes in the morning (and sometimes at night). My integrative body work therapist suggests it for everyone as it can really be beneficial for so many different areas/ailments. It seems to be a good tool for someone like me looking for at home systems/exercises to work on in between sessions, without a heavy commitment (5 extra minutes laying down – no problem!). I’ve lately been combining this with the eye mask as mentioned and typically have a soundtrack playing from Insight Timer below.
Insight Timer – shoutout to my friend, Marta, who swears by this app! She told me about it a couple of months ago and I’ve been using it pretty much daily since then. It’s free – which is the best part. And it’s loaded with a ton of music, meditations, yoga, exercises, online classes, etc. I tend to use it for the music (background music or morning music) but sometimes I even attempt one of the morning meditations (I love the ones that cater to those still lying in bed ha) paired with the eye mask and stillpoint tool. Again, I find five minutes is all you need, and any longer is just a bonus!
And as I mentioned earlier, sometimes I do none of the above. Other times I do all of the above plus write a blog before work (today!) since I have so much extra time. So really, I guess it’s all about waking up slowly and going with the flow.
In the spirit of a morning publish, I’ll leave you with a cheesy corny quote, by my late aunt Tricia (a longtime elementary school principal). She would say this most mornings over the loud speaker:
“Make it a great day, or not: the choice is yours!”