About 5 ½ years ago, during my blogging prime, I made a blog post about productive, beautiful and worthwhile elements I had begun to incorporate into my morning routine. I revisited this post not too long ago when a wave of nostalgia came over me and was sincerely delighted. Mariah of the past did alright with her morning routines. Mariah of the present day could use a little work.
With the start of the new school year came inspiration to revamp my morning schedule and I've been working on that the past couple weeks. Nick & I finally have consistent work hours so those became times to build the rest of my schedule off of. Nick’s alarm goes off at 5:30 and mine doesn’t technically need to go off until 7:00, but I came to terms with two facts about myself that make it worthwhile to wake up earlier than necessary:
1) It will make me miserable if the first time I get to see Nick is at 5:00pm every day
2) I seldom have enough energy in the evening to get my daily tasks accomplished, so if I want anything to get done during the week, I really need to do it first thing.
So, since I don’t want to be sad and I do want to be on top of my responsibilities, I set my alarm for 5:45. The only exception to this schedule is if I get to bed late, sleep poorly, or am going through a stressful time and need more sleep than usual. Sleep is priority, but I'm trying to be intentional about it and deciding how much extra sleep I actually need and not going overboard because I'm lazy. On a typical morning, the day begins to unfold as follows:
5:45 Wake up. Light on. Get out of bed by 6:00 (second alarm goes off at 6:01, just in case of unintentional, extra sleepies)
6:00 Make bed
6:05 Pull the blinds and “wake up” the house
6:05-7:00 I try to do 2 different tasks during this hour. One is usually washing the dishes from the previous day, the other is generally either picking up around the house, meal-prepping, or helping Nick get out the door on time.
7:00-7:20 Coffee break. Right now I either drink my coffee on the back porch or lounge on the bed with a book in hand. It depends on the weather.
7:20-7:45 Get myself ready for the day and out the door.
8:00 Clock in and start my work day.
Now I'm about a month in and I'd say so far so good.
5 years ago, I prioritized changing my morning routine for the sake of growing in self mastery and not giving into spur of the moment desires. I also just generally wanted the start of my day to be productive and to incorporate an element of beauty in some way. The same is true today. But I'd add a few additional reasons why it's worthwhile for me to have better mornings:
o r d e r
A lot of my studies throughout college gave me a sense of the importance of order in our lives. Before the Fall, all things were properly ordered: man was ordered, creation was ordered, and the relationships between mankind, creation, and God were all ordered to perfection. I may not be able to recreate Eden in my mornings, but I can have that sort of ideal in mind while structuring my time. For this reason, I make efforts to re-order our home, to schedule enough time to properly order my appearance, to tend to and assist (and maybe just be affectionate towards) my husband as is necessary for the order of our relationship, and take time to relax with nature or a book so my mind is decently ordered and not a stress ball of cortisol overload from social media exposure. Ideally, I will also carve out time to pray so my day at least begins with being oriented towards God, but to be perfectly honest, that idea just came to me as I started writing this...so I'll need to work on that.
c a l m n e s s
This means goodbye. social media. When left unchecked, my social media usage is out of control. I was sick of it (and horribly addicted) before all the tragedies of 2020 transpired, but now I'm even more sick of it...and unfortunately, also more attached to it. 5 years ago I considered social media a tremendous blessing in my life, which is funny to me now. Countless studies show the negative impact of social media and my own experience with it affirms all of their conclusions. I need a complete break from social media, but for the time being, I have one limit in place for myself: no social media first thing in the morning. Gone are the mornings of waking up, rolling over, and grabbing my phone because it does not make me feel good. It's only a little step, but it is a step that I'm trying to continually make each day for my own peace.
s i m p l i c i t y
Fact: if it isn't easy, it won't get accomplished. It would be swell if I were up for crushing major hurdles in the morning or pushing myself to do something great (like exercising...lol). But I won't set myself up for failure. So I don't try cooking an elaborate breakfast. I don't expect real exercise to happen. I don't put heavy, philosophical books by my bedside. I don't plan on changing the sheets on my bed...I just plan on making it. I wash the dishes, but don't even try drying and putting them away. Etc., etc. I know that I always tend towards lofty goals and ideals (you know, like making my mornings a mirror of the Garden of Eden) and I always fail and get discouraged. Not anymore, typical-Mariah. Now, I set out to accomplish tasks that a child could accomplish and I set myself up for success. Every.Dang.Day. And you know what, it's more fun that way. I like winning.
o t h e r l o v e l y t h i n g s
-My bed linens are pretty and I like how our bedroom looks when the bed is made, the closet doors are shut, and the bedside lamp is on. So I do these items right away. It's pretty, clean and peaceful.
-While it is usually still dark outside when I open the curtains in the morning, I like doing this so that the morning light can come in as soon as it arrives. Just like hanging good artwork around your house, opening the blinds makes it possible to have an encounter with beauty. You never know when you might need it.
-Almost all of my clothes are easy to mix and match and I only keep things I like and actually wear in my wardrobe. This makes it possible for me to get dressed quickly and actually enjoy what I'm wearing. I wish this was perfect, but lets be honest: some days certain clothes fit better than others...so that's a goofy thing to work around. ;)
-I like coffee. 5 1/2 years ago, I hated it. I swore I'd never drink it because I didn't want to be addicted. Now I drink it because I like it and that's cool. Coffee is a happy ritual in my morning and on days when Nick brews it for me, its an occasion of feeling taken care of and loved. Double win. I also only have 2 mug options to chose from, which is an additional point of simplicity during my morning. Its either ArisTurtle or Wiener Dogs and that's just right for me. Someday I want to replace my dog mug with something lovely and hand crafted (like these from
Nazareth Pottery) but that isn't a priority yet.
That about wraps up my morning routine and the thoughts behind it all. Will this last for the semester? The whole school year? We shall see. But for the time being, it certainly has been good. I've found myself more on time for work each day, and feeling much more accomplished and even a little more fulfilled because I'm setting aside time each morning to do not just the bare minimum, but also the tasks proper to my state in life. It makes me feel like a winner and I like that.
PS hello to my 2 readers, Carrie and Shannon. Possibly, Abbey too. Hello. Hello. I love you all. ;)
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