I’m a big morning routine person. I’m the 6 am person. I’ve been that person for a long time. The work out, read, journal – first thing in the morning – I loved it. The jogs as the sun rose – that was my thing.
During my pregnancy, that time frame became bigger. I was meditating for an hour in the mornings, painting, not writing so much, but doing that felt right for me at that time. There was a lot of slowing down in a sense. I’d never painted to start off with but it was a good outlet. When I couldn’t work out or travel – probably my biggest outlets and was being treated like a bit of fragile glass by my doctor – it was a healthy outlet. Point being, I started the day doing the things I felt were important. Meditating, painting, breathing and stretching.
Now, today, I listen to people speaking about morning routines – on podcasts. Anyone who has a baby will tell you – that would be a challenge unless you wake up before him/her. These days with little O who is 8 months old now, I get in a meditation pretty easily – mind you, its a ten minute one but he watches intently, he’s been watching for a while now. Then I try to get in my writing but I do so reading my writing out loud to him because now, he wants attention and so it’s like I’m speaking to him. We listen to audible together – that’s my new form of reading and if I’m lucky I’ll get in fifteen minutes of stretching because it is somewhat also entertaining him. I should say at about ten to fifteen minutes, he probably catches on that it’s not all about him and then calls for the activity to be changed. So morning routines are not the same but I get in what I can and I’m grateful for it. It means I come to the terrain a bit more full, having done things for me. And on days I can’t, I’ll do it somehow throughout my day. I know these things bring me joy and I’ll squeeze them in during his nap times or when he’s fresh out of a nap. This is a different stage and I’m ok with it. I’m probably ok with it because I have taken that time to fill up my cup and when my other half’s around I also take time to further fill up my cup. I’m grateful for that too.
As much as my identity is evolving, I like to keep the parts of me I enjoyed and continue to enjoy. It just means I have more fuel in my tank and by default, I think it gives me more to give to my family. So, even though we can’t always do some elaborate morning routine, find a way to fill your cup a little. Even if it’s one push up – tomorrow it may be two – you’ll feel good about it. We are all works in progresses.
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