journey to flow

We’re into the first full week of establishing the new morning routine. How’s it going you ask? Let’s see – our gray cat Church (she has that name for a reason) has settled in a little. The first few days she meowed (cried loudly) while wandering the house looking for her daddy. G, if you’re reading this, sorry for the angst that causes you, but she’s better now. Finally accepting that I will feed her and take care of her, she allowed me to pet her this morning. The boy cats figured out very quickly that it takes Merlin a long time to get out the front door and darted out when I wasn’t looking. Seems they wanted to go for a walk with us. As I’m learning to do every day, I just went with the flow and let them enjoy the feel of grass on their paws for a bit. Before leaving for work, I employed the ECRS (emergency cat retrieval system) to get them back inside. Some day they will figure it out and rebel, but for now the sound of a fork on a can of cat food works every time.

The first weekday morning I tried to take both dogs out for a walk. What was I thinking?! Six AM – a jumbled mess – our paper delivery person coming straight at me with headlights glaring – his laughter reverberating until disappearing out of our neighborhood. At least I learned something from the experience – make darn sure there are papers are on the driveways before taking the dogs out.

A comment on my last post reminded me that this is not really about starting a morning routine – I’ve had lots of them through the stages of my life. It’s more about changing routines to match our lives. When my girls were young we had a school routine. When I had to be at work at 6 am with an hour plus commute I had a routine for that. Now that I’m taking care of our household alone for a while I need something different again. Through all of these life changes I’ve found a few things that always work for getting into a morning routine:

• Plan ahead. Make lunches, choose and press clothing, lay out everything that needs to go with you the night before.
• Place these things in your briefcase, tote bag or backpack and place by the door. Besides my work bag where I always put my work crackberry and badge, I leave myself notes with my keys. Like tomorrow. I need to pick up a friend on the way to work. This is outside my usual routine so I’m likely to forget. The note with her address and phone number is stuck to the key rack so I don’t forget. Don’t snicker – just wait until you hit middle age and menopause – you’ll swear you’ve lost your mind every day too.
• Having a place to keep all your work or school stuff helps you know where it is if you put it back there at the end of each day. I don’t have to go searching for my work badge or keys or the papers I brought home the night before because I put them in the bag at the end of the day or when I’m through with them.
• Plan breakfast and prepare for it the night before.
• Get up when your alarm beckons and go do the first thing. Staying in bed just one second longer breaks my routine and starts the negative talk stream. This is just plain dumb – don’t do it. But if you do -  like I did this morning – forgive yourself and move on. Every day is a new start. Just keep starting every day. Ever since I had to get up at 3 dark thirty for a job, I’ve used a simulated sunrise alarm clock. Hands down. The best investment. Ever. Try it – you’ll never go back to a jarring alarm clock again.
• Make sure your gas tank is filled on the way home when it gets to ¼ full. Running late and having to stop for gas puts me right over the edge of stress.

My biggest challenge in this new routine is getting up when the light goes on. And getting to bed on time so I don’t feel the need to keep sleeping. It’s past my bedtime now – so good night and happy dreams.

Tell me how you stay on your routine every morning.

If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment and subscribe for free by RSS.

Tags: change, flow, habits, routine