I’ve written the title to this blog in capital letters in order to further motivate myself. Capital letters are intimidating. Scary. Impressive. Right?
This weekend Thomas & I brainstormed a new MORNING ROUTINE (that’s the working title, anyway).
See, as I’ve indicated before on this blog mornings are not, err, our thing.
Cookies are our thing. Snuggling, that’s our thing. Running is our thing. Books are our thing. Road-trips, those are our thing too.
Mornings? NOT our thing.
Typically we wake up somewhere around 7:30 or so. Tom crawls out of bed, puts on his work uniform and eats an orange. By the time he’s gotten to the citrus stage I’ve managed to wake enough to…stand. I kiss him goodbye (or rather his face sort of catches my lips as I trip towards him. It’s exceedingly romantic). Then, he leaves for work and I stare around the empty apartment and wonder why I’m vertical.
Then I wash dishes, listen to music and, by 10 a.m. have succeeded in waking up (I never really know what happens the first two hours I’m awake every day).
So, several things have happened in the last few days that have required our usual morning agenda to morph into something more…painful.
Last week I was offered a full-time job (which is a significant answer to prayer). I start in a few weeks but have begun adjusting my morning routine now. Why? I’ll need to leave for work by 7:15 a.m. Oh dear.
Tom leaves at 8 a.m which means he could sleep in a little longer.However, we have both chosen the higher road. And by higher I mean harder (why is higher always harder?). The alarm now goes off at 6:30 a.m. EVERY DAY.
Now, I realize that for some of you 6:30 isnt that early. To you I say, I envy that morning ease. Kelly Clarkson says what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger. I can only hope her words are true.
These days, Tom makes us breakfast while I straighten my hair and attempt not to scald my head. Then we sit in near silence looking lovingly at each other and eating bread.
We can do this.
Also this weekend, we bought our vitamin supplements! Yay! We’ve been talking about this for a while but life has just been a whirlwind. We’re good at some healthy things; running, eating fruit & vegetables and eating…lunch and dinner. Breakfast? Not so much.
NOT ANYMORE.
We’re now mature adults who have vitamin holders, eat whole wheat toast or oatmeal for breakfast and get up at 6:30. We’ve been this mature for 48 hours now.
It does feel good to know your body has what it needs. Some things are so simple too – swallowing a vitamin, sprinkling flax-seed on toast, filling a water bottle.
I prepare most things the night before. While Tom does the dinner dishes (ahh, love him). I set the table for breakfast, make sure the water bottles are filled and in the refrigerator and pack both of our lunches for the next day. It’s amazing how much money that last one saves us – since we both work we could spend anywhere from $6-10 a day on lunches. That’s $30-50 a week, $120-200 a month and $1,440 -2,400 a year. Umm, what the macaroni salad?
Or, as Tom says – it’s a savings of $240,000 in one hundred years. I cannot argue with that. I would like an extra $240,000 when I am 124 years old. Also, since we take vitamins now I expect I’ll be around to use that money.
I’m pretty pumped about our “new” schedule. We have more time in the mornings to read the Bible, wake-up together, have breakfast and truly start the day off well.
It’s an empowering feeling to be in control of your own body and to care for it properly it’s exceedingly difficult though! I’ve never been so aware how lazy my natural inclination are. I’m writing this for the accountability and for ideas. The fact that neither Tom or I are morning people means we could use some outside help – knowing people read this helps motive me. Truly, it does!
Also, I’m hoping that if you have any tried & true organizational, schedule or routine tips you’ll let me know! The benefits are starting to provide their own motivation but until then ideas are still helpful 
.
Have a great day, friends!
Waking up early is *extremely* hard for me. As in, I can’t open my eyes when it is dark outside. But I need to be at work at 8 which means if I don’t want to be rushed and grouchy every morning, I need to get up at 7…not 7:30.
So in order to give myself a slower wake up time (I am more fully awake if I give myself 5-10 minutes more), I sometimes set my alarm for 6:50 (or, if I’ve prepared the night before, I set it for 7) and then I let myself wake up and lie in bed for a few minutes to pull myself together.
Although sometimes I’ll fall asleep and wake up at 7:30 and run around like a crazy person to get to work on time (but then at least I’ve burned a bunch of calories, right?).
I guess my first piece of advice boils down to this: if you need a longer wake up time, set your alarm ten minutes early and then set a second alarm. Get up on the second one and while you’re waiting for it, just let your mind wander. I like to turn over and look at Stu and pray for him before I get up.
My second piece of advice is probably better. I like to do laundry on Saturday and then pick four or five outfits and hang them all up together — including any accessories like belts, hose, scarves, etc. That way I can grab an outfit and go in the mornings. Which is really helpful when I am standing around in a towel wondering where my favorite skirt went. All you need to do is pick your shoes. And it really takes just a few minutes to put the outfits together so I’m saving lots of time that I can spend on eating a good breakfast (and taking vitamins! Just started that routine too) or whatever.
Other than that…I like to pack lunches (or at least plan them) the night before, write out a list of stuff I need to remember to bring (the night before) and place it on the counter with my keys, and the thing that makes my day better — I don’t have time to sit down and have devotions so when I get to work I pull up biblegateway.com’s yearly reading plan (Old/New Testament) in The Message and read before I do anything else. My day is much smoother.
I second the motion to lay your clothes out for the week. I also wear mostly black and gray, with a splash of color here and there, it saves a ton of time trying to figure out what “goes” with what. I don’t like that game.
I also cook large meals on the weekend, with intentional left overs planned. I’ll cook a whole chicken (or a large lasagna or casserole or pot of soup…)and package the leftovers into lunch sized portions that are easy to grab and go.
I also quit caring what I look like, that really helps. I wash my face, brush my teeth, brush my hair, and I’m ready to go. I leave for work at 8 and wake up at 7:30….I make breakfast muffins and eat them while I drive.
“We’ve been this grown up for forty eight hours.” Okay, I have to stop and mention here that I’ve been wondering how you had the time to do all the lovely new wife things you’ve been doing, and realizing that you aren’t waking up at 6:15 every morning to work a whole day makes a lot more sense.
Muffins are really helpful. As is granola. TJ and I make big home made batches of GF granola, so breakfast only takes 10 minutes. Clothes before hand is helpful. I make sure to have my keys and purse hung up on the hook by the door so I don’t spend 10 minutes looking for them. One other note, coffee can actually make it harder for you to get up, because your body isn’t used to waking up before it. Try tricking yourself and having decaf in the morning instead so that your body gets used to waking up on its own. A high protein breakfast really helps with that (think fruit and yogurt).