Long before sunrise, on a fairly regular basis, I’ll wake up with something on my mind. Pre-Covid, I would be thinking of how to ramp up an upcoming challenge for one of the corporate events my team and I would be planning. You could say it was a bit of that pre-game nerves hitting me perhaps.
These days, when I wake up early, it tends to be either mentally focused on solving a work-related problem, or simply thinking about what is happening in my life that might translate into an interesting blog post in the next few days (My lawn mower died, and I resuscitated it! We went to the Tulip Festival! My knee seems to be tightening up more than usual after a workout…is it just muscle pain or something worse?).
For some reason, an issue that seemed so problematic the day before seems easier to solve when you sleep on it. It’s as if my mind is devoid of clutter right away in the morning.
THE COUNTDOWN
Once the alarm on my iPhone is triggered, I naturally hit the snooze button. Reaching for my phone, I let it light up and recognize my face before bumping up the temperature in the house a few degrees. I flop back down onto my pillow and then silently count to 100…usually with a weird cadence that makes it more than simply counting to 100. More like “1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2….until I reach 100, 1, 1, 1. Once I hit the end of the countdown, it’s time to move.
MOTION DETECTED
Grabbing my phone, putting on my glasses and lifting my Fitbit off the nightstand, I throw on a pair of sweats and head to the bathroom before jumping in the shower. Once I’m done toweling off, I brush my teeth, dress and massage a bit of gel in my hair to keep it from looking like bedhead when it dries, and then also use a disposable eyeglass wipe to clean my phone, my glasses and my watch.
GOOD MORNING SCAMP!
Stepping into the hallway before hitting the kitchen, I grab my Corgi’s collar off the top of his kennel and scratch his head and behind his ears a bit as he dozes at the top of the stairs. Once I step into the kitchen and begin to unlock the deck and open the vertical blinds, he comes hopping down the stairs and I barely get the door open before he rockets through to the backyard to do his business or simply chase a squirrel up a tree.
THE BEST PART OF WAKING UP
Timers on machines are a great thing, but I don’t like a bunch of stuff left plugged in all the time, so once I’ve closed the slider to the deck, I pull the coffee maker out of the corner on the counter, plug it in and then push the on/off button to get it brewing. Although we have like 20 different mugs to choose in the cupboard, I tend to favor about three of them, placing one of those three on the counter until the coffee’s ready.
HEIGH HO, HEIGH HO!
Since the pandemic in March of 2020, I’ve worked from my office here at home, which makes the trip in to work pretty simple. Walk down a flight of stairs, flip on my laptop and login and I’m there!
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
Take a moment to share your special routine in the morning and how it sets you up for the greatest day!
MOTEVENTURE 