Day 10 - describe, in detail, your morning routine
Once upon a time, in a land far away (a little more than 3,000 miles, to be precise), there lived a young college student with a morning routine that was the envy of people everywhere who wanted to be disciplined. She woke two or more hours before her first commitment, rolled out of bed into the clothes she had laid out the night before, and hit the college pool for half an hour to forty-five minutes. She then returned to her dorm and showered, did devotions, grabbed a quick breakfast, and headed off to whatever was next. Except on the days she had a 4am lifeguarding shift and a 7:30am class. Every day.
These days, I am aware of my dire need for a routine, but have not made a concentrated effort to get there. To be reasonable, we did just have a tremendous life shift with a newborn in our home and he has not begun to sleep through the night reliably, which makes sleep even more precious than it used to be. But I could still use a little routine in my life.
The other thing that has prevented me from making a real push for this good life choice is my increasingly 'P' nature. In case you aren't familiar with Myers-Briggs personality testing, 'P' stands for perceiving. In most cases, I think many people who know me would assume I am a 'J' - which stands for judging (side note: these verbs have little to do with the actions of the personality types, but rather are signifiers for feeling limited by structure and having a more creative and a bit chaotic approach to life - P - rather than taking a more structured, planned approach - J) and I am rather 'J'-oriented in many things, like work, bills, and other life tasks that have rewards for being structured and consequences for dropping the ball. However, housework, cooking, morning routines, and other less incentivized activities can end up in the 'P' zone and while, at times, this is healthy, I'm well aware that I could use a little more 'J' in many of these areas than what I am currently applying.
Nonetheless, there are some pretty standard things I do most days, at least the days that I work. I typically wake up with or soon after our little guy, so sometime between 5:45am and 7am. Josh or I will feed him and get him set up to play - although these days, he's starting to need a lot of supervision since he's now mobile - and go about preparing for work. My husband being the wonderful 'J' that he is, usually has his work clothes already designated and his lunch put together in the fridge, so he's mostly just going through the basic motions to get out the door. I help keep Zeke happy and try to get enough milk in him to keep him happy until they get to his carers.
Once they're gone, it's usually too late for me to work out, so I get dressed for work - often deciding what I'm going to wear based on how detailed I'm feeling; eat breakfast - often a peanut butter banana smoothie, sometimes with another carb thrown in; brush my teeth; pray; put on makeup and jewelry; check on our bunny's food, water, and litter; and head out the door. I have been making it a point to try to be at work on time or a little early this week because I've realized it's easy to let that slide when we live about five minutes away. I don't typically do coffee or tea because a) I don't like hot drinks unless I'm sick, at a really fancy hotel where there are scones and finger sandwiches, watching a royal wedding, or feeling incurably cold; and b) I'm naturally fairly energetic and caffeine tends to make me feel like Spider-Man on speed.
All that to say, mornings are not really what I want them to be and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss my ability to run to the gym before work or on days off; but it's a season, and one I wouldn't trade for all the freedom in the world. So here's to babies who sleep through the night, moms who can get up before them, and new beginnings. Maybe once I'm willing to leave my pillow before the baby is up I can get my 'J' husband to help me make a plan and stick with it....
Once upon a time, in a land far away (a little more than 3,000 miles, to be precise), there lived a young college student with a morning routine that was the envy of people everywhere who wanted to be disciplined. She woke two or more hours before her first commitment, rolled out of bed into the clothes she had laid out the night before, and hit the college pool for half an hour to forty-five minutes. She then returned to her dorm and showered, did devotions, grabbed a quick breakfast, and headed off to whatever was next. Except on the days she had a 4am lifeguarding shift and a 7:30am class. Every day.
These days, I am aware of my dire need for a routine, but have not made a concentrated effort to get there. To be reasonable, we did just have a tremendous life shift with a newborn in our home and he has not begun to sleep through the night reliably, which makes sleep even more precious than it used to be. But I could still use a little routine in my life.
The other thing that has prevented me from making a real push for this good life choice is my increasingly 'P' nature. In case you aren't familiar with Myers-Briggs personality testing, 'P' stands for perceiving. In most cases, I think many people who know me would assume I am a 'J' - which stands for judging (side note: these verbs have little to do with the actions of the personality types, but rather are signifiers for feeling limited by structure and having a more creative and a bit chaotic approach to life - P - rather than taking a more structured, planned approach - J) and I am rather 'J'-oriented in many things, like work, bills, and other life tasks that have rewards for being structured and consequences for dropping the ball. However, housework, cooking, morning routines, and other less incentivized activities can end up in the 'P' zone and while, at times, this is healthy, I'm well aware that I could use a little more 'J' in many of these areas than what I am currently applying.
Nonetheless, there are some pretty standard things I do most days, at least the days that I work. I typically wake up with or soon after our little guy, so sometime between 5:45am and 7am. Josh or I will feed him and get him set up to play - although these days, he's starting to need a lot of supervision since he's now mobile - and go about preparing for work. My husband being the wonderful 'J' that he is, usually has his work clothes already designated and his lunch put together in the fridge, so he's mostly just going through the basic motions to get out the door. I help keep Zeke happy and try to get enough milk in him to keep him happy until they get to his carers.
Once they're gone, it's usually too late for me to work out, so I get dressed for work - often deciding what I'm going to wear based on how detailed I'm feeling; eat breakfast - often a peanut butter banana smoothie, sometimes with another carb thrown in; brush my teeth; pray; put on makeup and jewelry; check on our bunny's food, water, and litter; and head out the door. I have been making it a point to try to be at work on time or a little early this week because I've realized it's easy to let that slide when we live about five minutes away. I don't typically do coffee or tea because a) I don't like hot drinks unless I'm sick, at a really fancy hotel where there are scones and finger sandwiches, watching a royal wedding, or feeling incurably cold; and b) I'm naturally fairly energetic and caffeine tends to make me feel like Spider-Man on speed.
All that to say, mornings are not really what I want them to be and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss my ability to run to the gym before work or on days off; but it's a season, and one I wouldn't trade for all the freedom in the world. So here's to babies who sleep through the night, moms who can get up before them, and new beginnings. Maybe once I'm willing to leave my pillow before the baby is up I can get my 'J' husband to help me make a plan and stick with it....
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