I am trying to change up my morning routine. I mentioned it in my last post that I have been waking up early.
Ridiculously early, because I am also still a night owl by nature.
Instead of waking as late as possible to still get to where I need to be on time, I’m getting up at 5 a.m.
I come downstairs, start coffee, and stretch. Coffee in hand, I start with a short journal entry then launch into my Ninja stuff – three gratitudes (“I am grateful for…”), 25 copies of my affirmation, and two handwritten notes (weekdays only). This gets me to about 5:45 or 6:00, and the handwritten notes take more than half the time.
I have a couple of Bullet Journal challenges I’m doing – one for doodling and one for showing off my planner. So that takes a couple minutes of research (to see how to draw the flowers in this month’s challenge) and execution (to decide which layout to take a picture of, cover personal info, and so on).
I try to read for 10 minutes. It’s supposed to be a personal enrichment book, of which I have many at the moment, but after fighting through the last one for four months, I’ve picked up something about the Secret Service which is decidedly lighter (but opinion-heavy) fare.
My morning somehow disappears very quickly at this point. By now it’s about 6:30, and my son and husband are working to get out the door. Even if I stay offline, 7:00 shows its face and I have to wake my daughter and get in the shower. While I’m getting a lot done in the two hours between waking and showering, it goes so quickly. I don’t know why I expect to get even more done. As if everything I’m doing isn’t significant (which it is) and helpful (which it absolutely is).
I thought perhaps I would have more time to write, but the Bullet Journaling, while a perfect fit, takes more time than I expected. Or maybe it’s just too distracting. Or maybe the stress of work is really pulling every thread of me and I’m just stretched too tightly, and forcing words is just one too many things.
I’m not doing well on my personal writing challenge. My first entry will be late, but I’m unwilling to give up yet.
I am very, very sick of making excuses, though. I’m sick of feeling so negative all the time, and being unable to fight through it. It’s like being in a downpour without an umbrella or jacket, or even a newspaper, and trying to stay dry. It has taken quite a while, but now every inch of me is dripping wet, and the only thing that’s going to get me dry is removing the wet clothes.
Unfortunately (if you follow that metaphor), I’m not in a position to do so. That’s what the writing challenge was for. To jumpstart, to practice, and come November, be in a place where I could start thinking about drying off.
Well, I’ve run off topic, which is not unusual. I’ll catch everyone later, once I have some fiction to post at IVEYbooks.