Another day, another bright and early morning!
I’m starting to think that I need to move to the east coast and put myself in a different time zone – at least then my hours of sleeping would shift from 10 PM – 4 AM to 12 AM – 6 AM, which seems a little more acceptable by normal standards.
But really, I’m not complaining. I mean, sure… waking up at 4:30 makes the day super long, and I usually feel like I’ve been up forever by the time the late afternoon rolls around, but I honestly adore the early morning, and having a good 4 hours to attend to other things before I even have to think about getting ready for work isn’t something that I’d willingly give up.
Why? Because it gives me the opportunity to calmly gather my thoughts before the craziness of the day sets in. Because taking some time to reflect on my goals helps me set myself up for the kind of day that I want to have. Because I can’t avoid it, so I may as well make the most of it, right? Kidding on that last one. Mostly 😉
I do love my morning routine, though, and I figured it would be fun to give you guys a glimpse into what it looks like… because I’m nosy and I just assume other people are too. And since yesterday’s post was kind of wordy, I’ll let the pictures do [most of] the talking today…
The very first thing I do (well… second… but I’m not willing to show you the first 😉 ) is drown my stomach in copious amounts of water. No lemon (it makes my stomach feel wonky), just water. I try to drink at least 2L of water a day (lately it’s been more like 3), and I probably get through a good quarter of that first thing in the AM.
Next comes tea. Winter, summer, home, or travelling, I always have a cup of this tea first thing in the morning. I.am.obsessed.
Some quick stretching while I wait for my tea to cool.
With my tea brewed (and cooled), I’ll light a candle and sit down to do some quick journalling/meditation. This is something that I just started doing recently (before, I would start my day on the computer), and I have to say I’m a huge fan. It felt a little awkward and forced at first, but it really does make a difference in how my day pans out.
After that, I’ll usually spend some time on the computer, either putting the finishing touches on my post or catching up with blogs I follow while my breakfast cooks.
And then it’s time for breakfast [by the computer]. Can’t start my day without it.
With food in my belly, I start to prep for the day. Brush teeth. Shower. General maintenance.
… put my face on…
… put some [real life] clothes on…
Aaaaaand then it really depends. Sometimes I’ll go for a walk; sometimes I’ll spend more time on the computer; sometimes I’ll study; sometimes I’ll have a quick chat with J if he’s around; sometimes I’ll party like it’s 1999… Anything to kill some time before I have to get to work.
So there you have it… how pretty much all of my days start out. I’ll admit that I wouldn’t mind if they started out a little bit later, but seeing as I wake up with tonnes of energy and don’t find myself dragging through the day, I’m not going to worry about it too much for now.
Hope your guys’ days are off to a great start too! See you tomorrow for WIAW!
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What time did you wake up today?
What was breakfast this morning?
What’s an essential part of your morning?
I’m always amazed to read about people who wake up so early. Its really inspiring! With me, just not gonna happen. 🙂
We need to get some Motives Cosmetics into your beauty routine! Wake up early and do some yoga poses to start the day 🙂
One thing I miss most from having my day shift schedule was getting up early and having “me” time before the day started. I mean, I guess technically, I have that now, but when you wake up at 2-3pm for your “morning” it just doesn’t feel the same…plus it’s always hard for me to tell if I’m still tired and should stay in bed or if I should force myself to get up. And meals tend to get a little weird too…like today (er, yesterday?) when I woke up, I had a bar before heading to the gym and then came home and had tomato soup and garlic cheese toast for “breakfast”! Lol
Hey Amanda! I have been trying to start my day with some stretching as well. What are some of the poses you do in the morning? I am looking into creating a routine that I could follow.
I actually don’t really do any specific kind of poses or flow… I just stretch whatever feels tight. But have you checked out Tara Stiles? She has some really great sequences for pretty much everything http://www.youtube.com/user/TaraStilesYoga
I’m with you, I love my morning alone time and my morning routine. However, since school (and teaching) is starting back, my routine will be non-existent anymore. Boo! It’ll be back to rushing out the door. Boy do I enjoy my summer morning time!
Oh, how I long to be a morning person! I can’t wake up in a timely manner (read: before 9am) without an alarm. But mornings are my favorite time – that calm before most of the world is up and about. And no matter when I wake up, I always like to spend a couple of hours just relaxing and prepping for the day, but more often than not, I wake up with *just* enough time to get ready before I have to leave.
I probably have to attempt to go to bed earlier, but my most productive hours of the day are between 11pm and 1am. Fail.
I’m a solid 8-10hr a night girl. It’s sort of pathetic, because anything less makes me a complete monster. I’m talking irritable, sensitive, agitated…basically someone you do NOT want to be around ha. Usually I’m asleep by 10 and wake up at 6 (more precisely 6:06) for work. If I don’t have work my bedtime is usually the same but I sleep until 8. If I don’t set my alarm, it’s always 8….even if I go to bed at 1 in the morning. I guess your 4 is my 8. Eeeek!
I love my morning time and often use it to gather my thoughts and prepare for the day. I often use my notebooks although I make lists mostly rather than writing journal entries. I do have a notebook for creative writing which sometimes makes it into my morning (depending on how much time I have). I really don’t like when my morning time gets cut into but it happens more often than I want. That is what drives me to get up in the morning (before everyone else).
According to Facebook chat I woke up about 5:20 today.That’s probably the average but it can be anywhere between 4 and 6 am, up to 7 if I’ve gone to bed really really late. I don’t use alarms and normally I feel quite energetic (hot summer days don’t count because I feel like crap pretty much all the time). Just like you, I love having me time in the morning when everything is still quiet and calm. I am actually happy my body is this kind of crazy because otherwise communication with the other end of the world would be difficult.
This morning’s breakfast: plain yogurt, blueberries, all bran, maple syrup, vanilla *inlove*
You inspire me to wake up earlier! I am such a morning person. I love the morning. It’s so peaceful. But lately I haven’t been able to pull myself out of bed early enough to enjoy the morning fully. I would ideally like to wake up, have a cup of tea, finalize a blog post, read blogs, check emails, get a workout in, shower and head to work. That sounds perfect. It’s just that initial getting out of bed in the morning bit I struggle with. It takes 3 weeks (or something) to make a habit. I should really get working on this one.
It’s really not that bad as long as you can get to bed at a decent hour… Especially now in the summer when it gets brighter way earlier.
I actually got up early this morning! I had time to blog, catch up on reading, check emails, and get a walk in. Let’s hope this continues!
I wish I could function on less than seven hours of sleep. I like need seven minimum and lately I can’t seem to get that! I am that person that will sometimes wake up throughout the night but still is up and at em at 5:00 am. And coffee is my morning essential. best thing post run
That sounds like such a productive and rejuvenating way to utilise your 4.30 am starts! the past few weeks when i’ve been up at that time, I tend to just toss and turn or over-think things in my head- definitely not good for attempting to drift back to sleep! This morning though, I got up at 6.30, hit the gym and now sitting down for some protein oats and nuts. An essential part for me is without a doubt coffee.. its my liquid gold!
I’m always interested in peoples’ morning routines. It sounds weird, but everyone is so different and I think their mornings really show that.
Five out of seven days, I get up early, workout, eat, shower, and then go to work/school. I’m definitely a morning person. My mom and brother, on the other hand, don’t like to talk or interact with anyone for at least an hour! It’s funny.
I really love the idea of meditating/journaling. I started journaling just before bed a few months ago, but found that I lost the motivation and usually chose sleep over it. Maybe starting it out in the morning would help me stay with it…?
Worth a shot! I usually feel a lot more motivated in the morning when I’m well rested than I do at night when all I want to do is pass out.
I love my morning routine and only wish I had more time to get everything in before work, including enjoying the solitude and calm that surrounds every morning.
I get up around five, watch the sunrise while I work on my blog, write out my things to do list and casually sip my morning coffee. At that hour, it’s just me and the felines watching the rest of the world (or at least our neighborhood) wake up. It’s one of my favorite times of each and every day.
I love the idea of doing some stretching though so I need to incorporate that somehow.
4am is so early girl! I usually get up at 6:45 or 7. I always brush my teeth, shower, then eat. Then.. it’s off to work. I wish I could make myself get up earlier so that I could get more accomplished in the mornings, but it just isn’t happening! lol
Believe me… I would sleep in a little longer if I could!
I love that idea of putting meditation at the forefront of my day rather than in the middle/end of my day! I’m going to have to try that tomorrow! I usually get up between 6 am-6:30 am, but lately, I’ve been waking up at 5 am naturally! Not sure why…still trying to work it out haha!
I wish I could wake up earlier. Actually, never mind. I just need to stop watching TV (except on Crossing Lines/Dateline Nights 😉 )
Good for you! Maybe I should start stretching/working out a bit in the morning. Hmm – such a hard decision 😉
Well I just finished 7 nights in a row Monday morning, slept til 1pm
and then stayed up til I started to shake from fatigue. That was about 730pm. I then woke up with my usual post night shift headache about 1230am and have been up since! Nights are ok but turn around is horrible. It will take me a couple more days til I sleep properly through the the night again.
I have a friend who does shift work and I honestly have no idea how he does it… I’d imagine it’s not something you can ever really get used to.
Although I can’t relate to a 4am wake up call, I am definitely with you about starting the day early enough to have a relaxed morning. When I was working at an office, I used to set my alarm to a time that would ensure I could work out without feeling pressed for time, come back home to get ready and enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Unsurprisingly the mornings I am rushed tend to start my day off on the worst foot and changes my attitude completely. As for today, I was out of bed by 8 am and “broke the fast” with a bowl of Greek yogurt with berries, banana, cereal, almonds and peanut butter…whilst watching the news on the telly :)!
It was precisely 6:12am when I woke up this morning. I do wish I could have kept on sleeping since I worked 12 hours on Monday… my breakfast was 1) water 2) ozery morning round and 3) chai tea with coconut almond milk.
Essential part of my morning is drinking my water, taking my probiotic and letting my mind wake up to the day.
I’m a big morning person too 🙂 I guess the one good thing about all of this stress that I have been having recently is the fact that I’ve been able to sleep a little bit later than normal. In the summer, I tend to wake up earlier because of the sun – around 4:45-5am-ish. I always have to start out with a big glass of water as well, I feel so dehydrated when I wake up!
Now waking up at 6 sounds a bit more doable. 4 is pushing it for me – I have that long day feeling and I don’t wake up until 7! I think it’s all about what works for you, though. Waking up early to have a couple hours of peace sounds heavenly. I’m all about waking up early just to add in extra hours to my day.
Also, you’ve got me completely hooked on the almond butter + honey combo. I’m allllmooost on the almond butter side with ya 😉
Hope you have a great day!
I dont know how you do it!! I wake up at 7:15 and have to be at work 20 minutes away by 8. Things are fast and furious around my house in am to say the least!!
I woke up at 5:45 this morning but lounged around in bed for a couple hours because I’m still recovering from my trip to Costa Rica. breakfast was a yogurt bowl with strawberries, blueberries, and granola. an essential part of my morning is a run and breakfast 🙂
Call me crazy but I wish I could swap with you and turn into a morning person. I woke up at – no, wait, was dragged out of bed by the unyielding sound of my phone alarm – at 7.24 [yes, I set it to weird times] and after a little stretching got ready for work. So yes, stretching is an essential part of my morning, too, and has been for years. It does its little magic to turn me from half-asleep to functioning human :).
Your morning routine sounds awesome with being able to have some me time before the day gets crazy busy and hectic. And fitting in a walk before work? Sounds just perfect.
Now tell me how you managed to become a morning person as you said you hadn’t always been. Maybe there’s hope for me, too :)?!
I did somehow manage to become a morning person! I actually used to be the complete opposite – it wasn’t rare for me to be going to SLEEP at 4, and the thought of waking up that early would make me laugh myself sick. But I’m finding that, in general, the older I get, the less sleep I seem to need.
What an adorable coffee mug. Morn ings are my personal time that I have not been getting much of with all my hours. I like to start off (about 15 minutes after waking) with a run, followed by food and coffee and reading some blogs and personal time. I then head to work around 8:30 and it’s honestly what has kept me sane. It’s my personal time to do as I please (no one is home and it’s so quiet).
I started my day at 6am, did an hour of strength training, super nice hot shower & off to the office. breakfast (this week- I meal prep for the 5 day work week & eat the same thing all week- makes it simple!) is home made breakfast power bar: vanilla whey protein powder, egg whites, golden flax meal & fresh peaches (they bake up all nice & puffy & everyone thinks its cake!). I always have to write an email in the morning, usually to my sister or grandma,; its probably like your journaling- just writing down thoughts & sharing events makes me settle in for the day 🙂 I love reading about other people’s days- why are they so much more interesting?!
I love the idea of journalling in the mornings! I started writing in my journal again a few months ago, but I haven’t been keeping up with it because I can never find the time (or I just don’t make the time.. same thing :P).
You know how I said I’ve been sleeping later now that I’m at home? Yeah well this morning I was up at 5 am for no reason. Yuck. I feel like a zombie today!
Breakfast this morning was banana chia egg white oatmeal with berries and Barney Butter. I haven’t had this for breakfast in like a week (because of my work schedule), so I was super excited for this breakfast haha.
Girl, you are literally insane for waking up that early all the time….. lol. I think the only time I ever do that is when I’m catching some absurdly early flight! I mean, it’s still dark out for Pete’s sake! I wake up at 7am usually on weekdays. Sleep in a little bit on weekends…. but that depends on a lot of things. 7am used to be SUPER early for me though, but obviously you can get used to different things just like you’ve gotten used to 4:30am apparently! Still, I can’t imagine, haha.
I had cottage cheese and fruit with egg whites and toast on the side for breakfast today! Was still pretty hungry shortly after so I had a cinnamon raisin bagel like an hour later! I’m really into bagels lately…. not sure why. They’re a great snack though 😉
Oh girl believe me… I’m definitely not ruling out insanity here. If you would have asked me a few years ago if I would have enjoyed waking up at 4:30, I would have laughed myself sick… But it seems to be working for now, so I’m just going with it…