HOW DO YOU BEGIN YOUR DAY? YOUR PRACTICE? THE TASKS YOU DO NOT WANT TO TACKLE?
I notice when comes time to write I never want to write. I make a million excuses to do something different or to come back to it “when I feel like it”.
This is why I love the container of my newsletter, I do not argue with myself on Mondays - I just write, whether I feel like it or not.
When tackling book writing I find myself battling the want to, should I, will I, don’t feel like its. While being a part of my own creation of digital accountability in Flexible Office does help, I can still find ways to avoid my own creation practice.
COMMENT BELOW :
HOW DO YOU START YOUR DAY?
HOW DO YOU BEGIN WRITING OR ART MAKING?
DO YOU HAVE RITUALS FOR HOW YOU START YOUR WORK DAY?
WHAT DO YOU NOTICE WHEN YOU PUSH THROUGH THE NOT WANTING TO?
Friday Threads are where we come together as a community to share ideas, visions, and resources
My morning routine is ALL I'VE GOT sometimes. Even if the rest of the day is a lot of staring and slow wandering, I know I've done something.
Coffee and morning pages. Then, Monday through Friday, 6 am spin class, which I know sounds like I'm some hardcore exercisey person, but it's more that it's 45 minutes where someone tells me a complicated thing to do, and I can't think about anything else or ruminate, and it's dark, and I sweat so much it's like a cleansing of everything. Then I come home and walk my dog.
The rest of my day might go anyplace. I have some routines and rituals, but none as hard and fast as that morning list. I need to say also that I am and always have been a morning person, and I don't think there's any special superiority about having a morning routine necessarily, it's just that that's my most productive and awake time.
It started as me trying to do something scary, and now I'm really into it. It's a good second part of morning pages. The morning pages are idea-generating and 45 minutes of sweating in the dark with strangers imprints the ideas into my body.
I am also a fan of swimming for similar meditative aspects, ESPECIALLY with a center snorkel, because then I don't have to think about rotary breathing, which I never learned to do properly. I can keep my whole face in the water and watch the bottom of the pool go by. I do look like a martian from a 1950s space movie when I get out of the water, but who cares.
I’m so curious about this! Would love folks rituals or care practices for doing the tasks that feel icky or scary (money care is often in that category for me).
I noticed that yesterday I sat down to my (new) daily writing practice -- and I really didn’t want to -- some story popped up around “it should feel joyful” (because I often day dreamed about having time for writing historically and didn’t due to work!) -- what I found when I showed up anyway... was a surge of creativity and presence and new patterns in the writing that I don’t think I would have found on particularly enthused and BIG feels of joy day. Yay for nuance and different layers of myself as a writer.
I find writing to be one of the best tools to unblock or face the icky moments! If I'm feeling anxious or blocked around a project or issue I ask myself questions and then answer in free writing: "how am I feeling today? How do I feel about this project/topic? Why am I scared of this? What would future me tell me? What would make me feel better about this? What three concrete actions can I take right now?"
Love this. Journaling is such a great way for me, too, to untangle mental threads and see new ways to weave them together. The three concrete actions prompt is GENIUS.
I hear you! I've started lighting a candle and putting on happy music before I check my bank balance, do my bookkeeping etc. I'm treating it like something that's fun and joyful, and it's slowly starting to feel that way. That, and I do it in little chunks, because I can easily get overwhelmed with this stuff, and in the past, that would cause me to go at it even harder, just to "get it over with," even though that never really worked. Now, as soon as I notice myself getting frustrated, I step back and congratulate myself for getting done what I did, and I get back to it in a day or two when I'm feeling more chill.
One thing I started using a while ago is Digit (they were just bought. Oportun?). It automates micro-saving, but more to the point here is that every morning they text me the checking balance. Over time, it really neutralized the number a bit. So then when I sit down to budget, at least the base number of how much is in there isn't a surprise. This little bit of pre-knowledge helps. The bonus is also that it's micro-saving in another place, so there's a secret small pot of money that I'm not really looking at available to help cover things when I fuck something up.
I've been using Tiller, which does the same as far as emailing me the balance, but doesn't do automated microsaving. It IS a google sheet though, so then I can feel like a professional, what with having a budget spreadsheet.
I will also say that The Art of Money by Bari Tessler helped me a lot. It's money stuff for creative people. It was still hard. I read it once and was terrified and didn't do any of the exercises, and then reread it two years after that, and it took me six months to read and do. (That's me, though. I had/have a lot of money stuff to work through.)
I've been scheduling an end-of-the-month coffee work date with a good friend who also runs her own very-small business. We bring our computers, get something to drink, name our intentions for the time ("I'm hoping to track my expenses from the month, look at my accounts, research this thing, etc.") and then we get to it for about an hour. Sometimes we turn around and part ways from there, sometimes we catch up a little. The presence of another person doing the same hard thing really makes a difference for me. It's not daily but knowing it will happen each month really helps lighten the cognitive load for the rest of the days.
I love this thread! Last year, I wrote the first draft of a romance novel, my first experience with fiction writing since I was a kid. Up until recently, I've only published non-fiction, and I found myself regularly putting off the novel writing because I "needed" to focus on stuff that makes me money, i.e., the non-fiction. But then by the end of the day, I'd be too brain mushed to do anything else, so two weeks ago, I made the commitment to start each day with an hour of working on my novel. No checking my phone, no email, nothing, until the hour is up. I figured, I'll just do this for a week, and if I hate it then I never have to do it again.
Not only did I very much *not* hate it, I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH IT IS CHANGING EVERYTHING. (*0_0*)
I'm making progress on the novel, which is rad, but also, the rest of my day feels exponentially more focused. I'm finding it much easier to tackle seemingly unrelated tasks that I'd usually avoid, like doing my bookkeeping, responding to emails, scrubbing the bathtub, etc. I didn't realize how powerful it would be to prioritize what brings me pleasure, no matter if there are other things that I could be doing. It also seems to be liberating a bunch of energy that I hadn't known was tied up in this background track of "Oh, I should be working on my novel..." And that "extra" energy is now flowing into other projects and tasks.
Seriously, I cannot get over how much this hour a day is turning everything upside-down in the best possible way.
YESSSSS god I love this - this is really happening to me with my own book. I focus on the things that make me money FIRST instead of being creative first, which often leads to more abundance. I am so happy you have been working on your novel FIRST! Thank you for sharing this
I love this so much and am inspired by it. I too am working on a novel that often gets shoved aside, and I KNOW I do better work on it if I do it first thing. Thank you.
Mornings are so hard for me! I’d love to have a ritual that makes me feel good and that I don’t have to think about. But most of the time I wake up still sleepy and have a hard time getting out of bed until the last moment that I need to start work. Jumping into exercise feels too intense and reading or meditating puts me back to sleep. How do you build something sustainable and supportive when it feels like a struggle?
I make a pot of tea on days when I work from home. If I only have time for one cup instead of a whole pot, I make a chai latte instead. I also fill up a giant pitcher full of water and put it on my desk. (I found that when I had to get up to refill my water glass, I just... didn't.) I've been trying to start waking up a little earlier and go for a quick walk before I settle into my work. I don't do it every day, but, annoyingly, it does seem to help.
I’ve given up feeling like I need to write on the computer or on a piece of paper - I write 90% of what I publish on my tiny mini iphone. Words seem to flow easier because my brain just things i’m socializing or talking to a friend. When it comes to fine tune editing then I’ll email it to myself. Letting go of the shame of more time on my phone and just leaning into the systems that make it easier for me to do what I want to do--write! Also lighting a candle helps. I go for a walk every morning and when I walk back through the door it’s work time.
I've just begun reclaiming my morning routine. It went out the window when I became a parent and because it's one of my biggest tools for regulation I have really struggled without it for the last 4 years.
I go for a walk. I never want to, but as soon as I am headed out the door I love it. I put on a podcast some mornings. Other times I am alone with my thoughts. I and make a loop of two around our local park before I come back home. Then I make a cup of tea and journal. It's magic. 💫
The best way for me to begin is be prepping for my mornings--this means picking out my work outfit before if I’m going into the office, and it also means meal prepping breakfast and good snacks for the week (ideally I do lunch too, but prepping breakfast has been a game changer for me since my motivation is so low to eat in the AM but I feel so much better when have something nice). Usually it’s an oatmeal bake or some kind of breakfast cookie. My partner and I recently bought a radio for our kitchen and being able to just flip it on and listen to tunes or people talking helps me to wake up and be happy to be awake---silent mornings can be nice but I tend to think a lot more about how much waking up sucks if I’m not listening to something !
Love this thread! I've been building my morning ritual for a few years now so I've had time to introduce new little things overtime (I'm a real believer of habit stacking). Time has also shown me what I need the most and what I can tweak here and there. Routines and rituals can change but overall I try to do at least two things from my "Holy Trinity of Mental Health" which are meditation, writing and movement. I've also come up with a few tricks that help me with my habits, like having a basket next to my bed where I keep my yoga clothes, my meditation blanket and my journal so that I can reach them without having to get out of bed; having all my meds together next to the sink so I take them when I have a glass of water in the morning; or mentally going through my tasks of the next day before sleep. Little hacks here and there make all the difference!
At the moment my routine looks a bit like this: no phone in bed (at least try); meditation before sleeping (right now I'm doing the six-phase meditation which I like because it covers all the main themes: universal consciousness, gratitude, forgiveness, long-term visioning, current goals and feeling blessed and supported); If I'm feeling anxious I journal so I can clear out my brain RAM. Try to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep. Morning pages in bed. Take meds and drink a glass of water. Yoga for 20-40min finished with dancing and jumping jacks to a pop song. Shower and read newsletters while having breakfast (this is a new habit I took up recently, I quite like thinking of my dad reading the newspaper while we were having breakfast and feeling like I'm doing the same when I catch up with my newsletters).
All of this takes about three hours so I usually start work around 10-11am. For creative work I find that it takes me hourssss to get into flow so I try to do all the admin and computer work in the morning and faff about quite a bit, I don't have such a consistent routine for the rest of the day but my morning ritual is such a foundation of my life and my mental health, I feel grateful every day that I get to have the mornings for myself and start every day with a ritual of my own making!
I've been working on this for a while and it's SO CRUCIAL to my mental health. Morning routines are not the only way, but it's been my way. My partner and kid (teen—I had him young) wake up later than me, always, so I get time to myself. Sooo... M-F as a working from a home studio person, I'm up at 7ish—feed cats, make coffee, drink a bit of coffee and do yoga (sometimes intense, usually 20-30 minutes, sometimes literally like 2 sun salutations), (I just inserted 5-10 minutes of meditation here, so we'll see if it sticks...), morning pages, make herbal tea (coffee is gone by this point), pull tarot.
When I sit down at the computer I delete shit email, snooze others that aren't for today, check various internets quickly to open articles &/or tabs that are my to-do list. I also make lists/bullet journal and that is usually done the night before. This bit of time between making the list and doing the list helps me—it's easier to write something down when I don't have to do it right away, and then again easier to do a thing when it's already written down. I'm an artist and usually get my computer stuff done in the morning and physical making stuff later on. Bc I'm at home I also really try to walk in the afternoon, even if for a 15 minute break, to get myself outside.
BUT! I also live with a totally-not-morning person who does none of these things, who stumbles into the shower and out the door for work half-asleep, and who still takes care of their needs—just later and more mixed in rather than in a chunk like this. There are so many ways!
I slip downstairs before everyone else, brew a cup of coffee, fill my water bottle, sit and write a morning page (or morning paragraph), sit with my feelings, and do strength training in the garage for 15-30 minutes. On days when I don't have a kid to drive to work I slip out to sit on my dock (we have a freshwater lake behind our house) and eat breakfast with my partner, usually my favorite hashbrown egg scramble, and play with my little kids in the backyard.
my work schedule is 4 10-hour days and it is such a gift. it also makes my work days and non-work days pretty different, incorporating morning things while at work throughout the day
- work days (6:00 AM start): wake at 5:10, dress in pre-picked clothes, feed dogs, deliver coffee to partner in bed, take pre-packed bags and food to work, read articles and newsletters, walk and meditate during morning and lunch breaks
- non-work days: drink coffee in bed, meditate or read, make breakfast, then whatever the day calls for (cleaning/chores, volunteering, outdoor activity, seeing family/friends)
pre-planning makes starting early so much easier for me. i've had a hard time writing because i judge myself so much in the moment, and i will also judge myself in the future. still working on that.
My best days are the days where I do 20 minutes of meaningful/impactful work before I open any emails or check news. It works every time I manage to do it.
I start every day with a 10 or 15 minute guided meditation first thing after I get out of bed. Then, some days, I do 30 minutes on my stationary bike. Then breakfast. Then I check email. and whatever other else like that that might need attending. I like to get it all out of the way so it's not just hanging there to distract me. I try to be done with it all by 10 but sometimes it's 10:30, at which point I switch gears to "writing" - whatever form that might take on that particular day and moment. A second cup of tea is often in the picture...
Feed the cats. 30 min morning call that's part of yearlong offering from Cheri Huber's Zen Monastery Peace Center. Walk for 30 min while "recording and listening," my main spiritual and creative and everything practice. Pull a few weeds. Breakfast.
Also, pulling a few weeds is one of my best practices for getting myself on track with my day. Outside, in my body, accomplishing a small concrete task. Yes.
Using a tape recorder, I share what's happening, then listen back. Often wisdom will drop in from a higher self. It's like mainlining love. I did it daily for years, then stopped for a while to explore other things, and have now returned to it for good. http://www.recordingandlistening.org
My dog keeps me on schedule like clock work. Every morning after I finish my morning pee (lol) my dog’s sitting patiently near the front door in anticipation of her daily walk. Getting blood circulating first thing sets me up for productivity-success once we return home. I get my work appointments done and then have created a habit of playing music once work obligations are complete. Rewards work just as well for me as the canine.
The morning pee is a big one haha! I use it to get my glass of water and my meds and then I put on my yoga clothes on the way back to bed so I'm already dressed when I write my morning pages.
I have so many ideas of what helps me to JUST START doing things. I write them down, I feel good about the plan I made, I thinks this is really IT, this is what‘s going to help me to a healthier practice and then.. I simply won‘t stick to it.
The only thing that helps me for a certain period is pushing me in a frame of doing the thing (that I actually WANT to do) every day at a specific time, no matter what. Setting a time frame, like giving it at least 15 Mins, or doing it for at least 1 week/month makes it easier to overcome the inner critic screaming at me..
I still put off doing that though, so I appreciate everyone sharing their handle on it.
I've found that I have rituals that I like to do but also give myself space to NOT. Like, every morning I start with some journaling with my coffee, and then going through my planner for the day/week/month with my breakfast. But sometimes I wake up late or I decide that a quiet walk with my dog feels more in line with my brain and then I do that, instead, without worrying about and-ing.
As far as starting hard stuff, I try to gather as much pleasure around me as I can muster. I light a candle, put on perfume, make myself a hot beverage, tidy my desk... all with the idea that I'm not putting off but am in fact preparing/ritualizing. Sometimes that's enough, sometimes that leads me back to my notebook to write out some goals for the session, note my hesitancy or nervous state, etc, maybe even question if its a thing that I feel like I should be doing, as opposed to a thing that will really serve my goals. Balancing my budget serves me even if it's hard or scary, for example, but some creative projects are shoulds instead of steps.
I'm a recovering over-achiever in a big way, so turning towards softness, instead of muscling through something, has become my biggest friend, as I learn how to be my own friend again.
In my one room yurt here in Big Sur, when I wake I stretch an arm out of bed to grab my notebook with pen slid inside to the most recent page, pad in sock-feet to my little writing desk at the window that faces the trees, not the ocean, and click on the electric kettle I filled at bedtime the night before as I go. I race the kettle, trying to write half a page before it clicks to tell me it's done, and then I pour myself a mug of some flavor of tulsi tea, usually cinnamon or sweet rose while I finish the rest of the three longhand pages as St Julia Cameron advises. I toss on something clean and usually either crocs or birks, walk to the meditation hut to sit at least 10 minutes (I love you, Insight Timer) and by then it's a scramble to run across the creek bridge to get to communal breakfast before all the good stuff is gone :)
What a fun discussion! This question really kindled some deeper reflection and inspired me to give more attention to a morning routine that often changes depending on time. I have a job that requires me to get up very early for a 90 minute commute. I love the clean slate feeling of early mornings. It’s my favorite time to write, but lately having trouble accommodating creativity and having enough energy in the morning. Instead of beating myself up over the constraints, I’m learning to be flexible with myself, find out what feels right, what nurtures me when I’m tired and helps me get out of bed when I feel like hitting snooze 500000 times.
I think my true staples of a healthy morning routine means paying more attention to basic elements like taking a shower (I used to shower only at night. Lately morning feels nicer and I look forward to it first thing). Plenty of hydration, drinking water first thing, is also important, and then some quiet time to just be alone and catch up with myself over coffee. I really enjoy even 5-10 mins of simple quiet by myself. If I have more time, I will try to meditate, or do a basic yoga routine. I would really like to have more energy and time for easy morning workouts, walks in nature, etc. and write. Trying to have patience with myself while figuring out what works seems to go a long way!
I think if you can foster a meaningful routine in the morning, it can give you more energy for to channel into writing (or other creative practice) during your other free time throughout the day, where it’s possible. At least, that’s what I’m striving for in these early seedling stages of my music and story-writing process.
I am so curious to hear and learn from the other ideas being discussed. Thanks for giving me the chance to share here!
My morning routine is getting up with my toddler, making me coffee and him breakfast, lighting the candle on my altar, and then writing Morning Pages—with anywhere from ten to a hundred interruptions from him. I would consider rising before him but my partner is getting ready for work at that time so it wouldn't actually be quiet alone time, so I just sleep in as long as he does. I have learned to come back to the page over and over and pick up the thought wherever I left it off and it works for me at the same time as me knowing it won't be this way for the rest of my life. :) Plus, since Morning Pages are stream-of-conscious they were already rather discontinuous even before becoming a parent.
Better late to the thread than never. My morning routine starts at 5am with an hour meditation. Exercise for 30/40 minutes- usually pilates w light weights/ running. Write morning pages. Read for an hour. It can be a book. It can be Substack. It can be anything I'm curious to learn about. Then I take a cold shower. That is what it looks like 85% of the time. I realized that having a routine helps me become freer. Happier. Kinder. Creatively more open. The hard part is doing it consistently. The hard part is not being hard on myself if I don't.
My morning routine is ALL I'VE GOT sometimes. Even if the rest of the day is a lot of staring and slow wandering, I know I've done something.
Coffee and morning pages. Then, Monday through Friday, 6 am spin class, which I know sounds like I'm some hardcore exercisey person, but it's more that it's 45 minutes where someone tells me a complicated thing to do, and I can't think about anything else or ruminate, and it's dark, and I sweat so much it's like a cleansing of everything. Then I come home and walk my dog.
The rest of my day might go anyplace. I have some routines and rituals, but none as hard and fast as that morning list. I need to say also that I am and always have been a morning person, and I don't think there's any special superiority about having a morning routine necessarily, it's just that that's my most productive and awake time.
This is inspiring to me. I have long thought of getting a membership to the YMCA to do a 6am everyday swim :)
It started as me trying to do something scary, and now I'm really into it. It's a good second part of morning pages. The morning pages are idea-generating and 45 minutes of sweating in the dark with strangers imprints the ideas into my body.
I am also a fan of swimming for similar meditative aspects, ESPECIALLY with a center snorkel, because then I don't have to think about rotary breathing, which I never learned to do properly. I can keep my whole face in the water and watch the bottom of the pool go by. I do look like a martian from a 1950s space movie when I get out of the water, but who cares.
I’m so curious about this! Would love folks rituals or care practices for doing the tasks that feel icky or scary (money care is often in that category for me).
I noticed that yesterday I sat down to my (new) daily writing practice -- and I really didn’t want to -- some story popped up around “it should feel joyful” (because I often day dreamed about having time for writing historically and didn’t due to work!) -- what I found when I showed up anyway... was a surge of creativity and presence and new patterns in the writing that I don’t think I would have found on particularly enthused and BIG feels of joy day. Yay for nuance and different layers of myself as a writer.
yesssss "what I found when I showed up anyway... was a surge of creativity and presence and new patterns" this is THE WHOLE DAMN THING
I find writing to be one of the best tools to unblock or face the icky moments! If I'm feeling anxious or blocked around a project or issue I ask myself questions and then answer in free writing: "how am I feeling today? How do I feel about this project/topic? Why am I scared of this? What would future me tell me? What would make me feel better about this? What three concrete actions can I take right now?"
Love this. Journaling is such a great way for me, too, to untangle mental threads and see new ways to weave them together. The three concrete actions prompt is GENIUS.
I'd love to hear about rituals around money care, too. My current ritual is clenched teeth and hiding behind my hands while I check my budget app.
I hear you! I've started lighting a candle and putting on happy music before I check my bank balance, do my bookkeeping etc. I'm treating it like something that's fun and joyful, and it's slowly starting to feel that way. That, and I do it in little chunks, because I can easily get overwhelmed with this stuff, and in the past, that would cause me to go at it even harder, just to "get it over with," even though that never really worked. Now, as soon as I notice myself getting frustrated, I step back and congratulate myself for getting done what I did, and I get back to it in a day or two when I'm feeling more chill.
Ooooo, stepping back and congratulating yourself before you go too far down the frustration road is GOOD. I need to do that.
One thing I started using a while ago is Digit (they were just bought. Oportun?). It automates micro-saving, but more to the point here is that every morning they text me the checking balance. Over time, it really neutralized the number a bit. So then when I sit down to budget, at least the base number of how much is in there isn't a surprise. This little bit of pre-knowledge helps. The bonus is also that it's micro-saving in another place, so there's a secret small pot of money that I'm not really looking at available to help cover things when I fuck something up.
I've been using Tiller, which does the same as far as emailing me the balance, but doesn't do automated microsaving. It IS a google sheet though, so then I can feel like a professional, what with having a budget spreadsheet.
I will also say that The Art of Money by Bari Tessler helped me a lot. It's money stuff for creative people. It was still hard. I read it once and was terrified and didn't do any of the exercises, and then reread it two years after that, and it took me six months to read and do. (That's me, though. I had/have a lot of money stuff to work through.)
I've been scheduling an end-of-the-month coffee work date with a good friend who also runs her own very-small business. We bring our computers, get something to drink, name our intentions for the time ("I'm hoping to track my expenses from the month, look at my accounts, research this thing, etc.") and then we get to it for about an hour. Sometimes we turn around and part ways from there, sometimes we catch up a little. The presence of another person doing the same hard thing really makes a difference for me. It's not daily but knowing it will happen each month really helps lighten the cognitive load for the rest of the days.
I love this thread! Last year, I wrote the first draft of a romance novel, my first experience with fiction writing since I was a kid. Up until recently, I've only published non-fiction, and I found myself regularly putting off the novel writing because I "needed" to focus on stuff that makes me money, i.e., the non-fiction. But then by the end of the day, I'd be too brain mushed to do anything else, so two weeks ago, I made the commitment to start each day with an hour of working on my novel. No checking my phone, no email, nothing, until the hour is up. I figured, I'll just do this for a week, and if I hate it then I never have to do it again.
Not only did I very much *not* hate it, I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH IT IS CHANGING EVERYTHING. (*0_0*)
I'm making progress on the novel, which is rad, but also, the rest of my day feels exponentially more focused. I'm finding it much easier to tackle seemingly unrelated tasks that I'd usually avoid, like doing my bookkeeping, responding to emails, scrubbing the bathtub, etc. I didn't realize how powerful it would be to prioritize what brings me pleasure, no matter if there are other things that I could be doing. It also seems to be liberating a bunch of energy that I hadn't known was tied up in this background track of "Oh, I should be working on my novel..." And that "extra" energy is now flowing into other projects and tasks.
Seriously, I cannot get over how much this hour a day is turning everything upside-down in the best possible way.
YESSSSS god I love this - this is really happening to me with my own book. I focus on the things that make me money FIRST instead of being creative first, which often leads to more abundance. I am so happy you have been working on your novel FIRST! Thank you for sharing this
I love this so much and am inspired by it. I too am working on a novel that often gets shoved aside, and I KNOW I do better work on it if I do it first thing. Thank you.
Mornings are so hard for me! I’d love to have a ritual that makes me feel good and that I don’t have to think about. But most of the time I wake up still sleepy and have a hard time getting out of bed until the last moment that I need to start work. Jumping into exercise feels too intense and reading or meditating puts me back to sleep. How do you build something sustainable and supportive when it feels like a struggle?
I make a pot of tea on days when I work from home. If I only have time for one cup instead of a whole pot, I make a chai latte instead. I also fill up a giant pitcher full of water and put it on my desk. (I found that when I had to get up to refill my water glass, I just... didn't.) I've been trying to start waking up a little earlier and go for a quick walk before I settle into my work. I don't do it every day, but, annoyingly, it does seem to help.
pitcher of water is GENIUS!
I’ve given up feeling like I need to write on the computer or on a piece of paper - I write 90% of what I publish on my tiny mini iphone. Words seem to flow easier because my brain just things i’m socializing or talking to a friend. When it comes to fine tune editing then I’ll email it to myself. Letting go of the shame of more time on my phone and just leaning into the systems that make it easier for me to do what I want to do--write! Also lighting a candle helps. I go for a walk every morning and when I walk back through the door it’s work time.
yesssss - I dictate SO MUCH from voice to text in my notes app :) Thank god for it
I've just begun reclaiming my morning routine. It went out the window when I became a parent and because it's one of my biggest tools for regulation I have really struggled without it for the last 4 years.
I go for a walk. I never want to, but as soon as I am headed out the door I love it. I put on a podcast some mornings. Other times I am alone with my thoughts. I and make a loop of two around our local park before I come back home. Then I make a cup of tea and journal. It's magic. 💫
I truly never want to go on a walk but walking is my favorite thing the second I start doing it :)
The best way for me to begin is be prepping for my mornings--this means picking out my work outfit before if I’m going into the office, and it also means meal prepping breakfast and good snacks for the week (ideally I do lunch too, but prepping breakfast has been a game changer for me since my motivation is so low to eat in the AM but I feel so much better when have something nice). Usually it’s an oatmeal bake or some kind of breakfast cookie. My partner and I recently bought a radio for our kitchen and being able to just flip it on and listen to tunes or people talking helps me to wake up and be happy to be awake---silent mornings can be nice but I tend to think a lot more about how much waking up sucks if I’m not listening to something !
I love remembering how fun prepping the outfit the night before can be. I used to loooovvvee doing this in high school :)
Love this thread! I've been building my morning ritual for a few years now so I've had time to introduce new little things overtime (I'm a real believer of habit stacking). Time has also shown me what I need the most and what I can tweak here and there. Routines and rituals can change but overall I try to do at least two things from my "Holy Trinity of Mental Health" which are meditation, writing and movement. I've also come up with a few tricks that help me with my habits, like having a basket next to my bed where I keep my yoga clothes, my meditation blanket and my journal so that I can reach them without having to get out of bed; having all my meds together next to the sink so I take them when I have a glass of water in the morning; or mentally going through my tasks of the next day before sleep. Little hacks here and there make all the difference!
At the moment my routine looks a bit like this: no phone in bed (at least try); meditation before sleeping (right now I'm doing the six-phase meditation which I like because it covers all the main themes: universal consciousness, gratitude, forgiveness, long-term visioning, current goals and feeling blessed and supported); If I'm feeling anxious I journal so I can clear out my brain RAM. Try to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep. Morning pages in bed. Take meds and drink a glass of water. Yoga for 20-40min finished with dancing and jumping jacks to a pop song. Shower and read newsletters while having breakfast (this is a new habit I took up recently, I quite like thinking of my dad reading the newspaper while we were having breakfast and feeling like I'm doing the same when I catch up with my newsletters).
All of this takes about three hours so I usually start work around 10-11am. For creative work I find that it takes me hourssss to get into flow so I try to do all the admin and computer work in the morning and faff about quite a bit, I don't have such a consistent routine for the rest of the day but my morning ritual is such a foundation of my life and my mental health, I feel grateful every day that I get to have the mornings for myself and start every day with a ritual of my own making!
I've been working on this for a while and it's SO CRUCIAL to my mental health. Morning routines are not the only way, but it's been my way. My partner and kid (teen—I had him young) wake up later than me, always, so I get time to myself. Sooo... M-F as a working from a home studio person, I'm up at 7ish—feed cats, make coffee, drink a bit of coffee and do yoga (sometimes intense, usually 20-30 minutes, sometimes literally like 2 sun salutations), (I just inserted 5-10 minutes of meditation here, so we'll see if it sticks...), morning pages, make herbal tea (coffee is gone by this point), pull tarot.
When I sit down at the computer I delete shit email, snooze others that aren't for today, check various internets quickly to open articles &/or tabs that are my to-do list. I also make lists/bullet journal and that is usually done the night before. This bit of time between making the list and doing the list helps me—it's easier to write something down when I don't have to do it right away, and then again easier to do a thing when it's already written down. I'm an artist and usually get my computer stuff done in the morning and physical making stuff later on. Bc I'm at home I also really try to walk in the afternoon, even if for a 15 minute break, to get myself outside.
BUT! I also live with a totally-not-morning person who does none of these things, who stumbles into the shower and out the door for work half-asleep, and who still takes care of their needs—just later and more mixed in rather than in a chunk like this. There are so many ways!
I slip downstairs before everyone else, brew a cup of coffee, fill my water bottle, sit and write a morning page (or morning paragraph), sit with my feelings, and do strength training in the garage for 15-30 minutes. On days when I don't have a kid to drive to work I slip out to sit on my dock (we have a freshwater lake behind our house) and eat breakfast with my partner, usually my favorite hashbrown egg scramble, and play with my little kids in the backyard.
It's so easy NOT to get time to myself to write or be alone that if I have the chance I'm just really grateful for it.
my work schedule is 4 10-hour days and it is such a gift. it also makes my work days and non-work days pretty different, incorporating morning things while at work throughout the day
- work days (6:00 AM start): wake at 5:10, dress in pre-picked clothes, feed dogs, deliver coffee to partner in bed, take pre-packed bags and food to work, read articles and newsletters, walk and meditate during morning and lunch breaks
- non-work days: drink coffee in bed, meditate or read, make breakfast, then whatever the day calls for (cleaning/chores, volunteering, outdoor activity, seeing family/friends)
pre-planning makes starting early so much easier for me. i've had a hard time writing because i judge myself so much in the moment, and i will also judge myself in the future. still working on that.
My best days are the days where I do 20 minutes of meaningful/impactful work before I open any emails or check news. It works every time I manage to do it.
But here is how I really start my day:
1. Drag out of bed, feed cat, grab iced coffee prepped night before
2. Gym
3. More coffee, dress kids and self, pack bag & lunch, commute
4. either execute the above #1 best tip of all (real work first) or fall into slug-like morass of clicking and possibly never recover
I start every day with a 10 or 15 minute guided meditation first thing after I get out of bed. Then, some days, I do 30 minutes on my stationary bike. Then breakfast. Then I check email. and whatever other else like that that might need attending. I like to get it all out of the way so it's not just hanging there to distract me. I try to be done with it all by 10 but sometimes it's 10:30, at which point I switch gears to "writing" - whatever form that might take on that particular day and moment. A second cup of tea is often in the picture...
Feed the cats. 30 min morning call that's part of yearlong offering from Cheri Huber's Zen Monastery Peace Center. Walk for 30 min while "recording and listening," my main spiritual and creative and everything practice. Pull a few weeds. Breakfast.
Can you say more about what "recording and listening" is?
Also, pulling a few weeds is one of my best practices for getting myself on track with my day. Outside, in my body, accomplishing a small concrete task. Yes.
Using a tape recorder, I share what's happening, then listen back. Often wisdom will drop in from a higher self. It's like mainlining love. I did it daily for years, then stopped for a while to explore other things, and have now returned to it for good. http://www.recordingandlistening.org
thanks for sharing . wow, sounds like a really rich process.
My dog keeps me on schedule like clock work. Every morning after I finish my morning pee (lol) my dog’s sitting patiently near the front door in anticipation of her daily walk. Getting blood circulating first thing sets me up for productivity-success once we return home. I get my work appointments done and then have created a habit of playing music once work obligations are complete. Rewards work just as well for me as the canine.
The morning pee is a big one haha! I use it to get my glass of water and my meds and then I put on my yoga clothes on the way back to bed so I'm already dressed when I write my morning pages.
I have so many ideas of what helps me to JUST START doing things. I write them down, I feel good about the plan I made, I thinks this is really IT, this is what‘s going to help me to a healthier practice and then.. I simply won‘t stick to it.
The only thing that helps me for a certain period is pushing me in a frame of doing the thing (that I actually WANT to do) every day at a specific time, no matter what. Setting a time frame, like giving it at least 15 Mins, or doing it for at least 1 week/month makes it easier to overcome the inner critic screaming at me..
I still put off doing that though, so I appreciate everyone sharing their handle on it.
Much love,
s
DEEPLY RELATE <3
I've found that I have rituals that I like to do but also give myself space to NOT. Like, every morning I start with some journaling with my coffee, and then going through my planner for the day/week/month with my breakfast. But sometimes I wake up late or I decide that a quiet walk with my dog feels more in line with my brain and then I do that, instead, without worrying about and-ing.
As far as starting hard stuff, I try to gather as much pleasure around me as I can muster. I light a candle, put on perfume, make myself a hot beverage, tidy my desk... all with the idea that I'm not putting off but am in fact preparing/ritualizing. Sometimes that's enough, sometimes that leads me back to my notebook to write out some goals for the session, note my hesitancy or nervous state, etc, maybe even question if its a thing that I feel like I should be doing, as opposed to a thing that will really serve my goals. Balancing my budget serves me even if it's hard or scary, for example, but some creative projects are shoulds instead of steps.
I'm a recovering over-achiever in a big way, so turning towards softness, instead of muscling through something, has become my biggest friend, as I learn how to be my own friend again.
In my one room yurt here in Big Sur, when I wake I stretch an arm out of bed to grab my notebook with pen slid inside to the most recent page, pad in sock-feet to my little writing desk at the window that faces the trees, not the ocean, and click on the electric kettle I filled at bedtime the night before as I go. I race the kettle, trying to write half a page before it clicks to tell me it's done, and then I pour myself a mug of some flavor of tulsi tea, usually cinnamon or sweet rose while I finish the rest of the three longhand pages as St Julia Cameron advises. I toss on something clean and usually either crocs or birks, walk to the meditation hut to sit at least 10 minutes (I love you, Insight Timer) and by then it's a scramble to run across the creek bridge to get to communal breakfast before all the good stuff is gone :)
What a fun discussion! This question really kindled some deeper reflection and inspired me to give more attention to a morning routine that often changes depending on time. I have a job that requires me to get up very early for a 90 minute commute. I love the clean slate feeling of early mornings. It’s my favorite time to write, but lately having trouble accommodating creativity and having enough energy in the morning. Instead of beating myself up over the constraints, I’m learning to be flexible with myself, find out what feels right, what nurtures me when I’m tired and helps me get out of bed when I feel like hitting snooze 500000 times.
I think my true staples of a healthy morning routine means paying more attention to basic elements like taking a shower (I used to shower only at night. Lately morning feels nicer and I look forward to it first thing). Plenty of hydration, drinking water first thing, is also important, and then some quiet time to just be alone and catch up with myself over coffee. I really enjoy even 5-10 mins of simple quiet by myself. If I have more time, I will try to meditate, or do a basic yoga routine. I would really like to have more energy and time for easy morning workouts, walks in nature, etc. and write. Trying to have patience with myself while figuring out what works seems to go a long way!
I think if you can foster a meaningful routine in the morning, it can give you more energy for to channel into writing (or other creative practice) during your other free time throughout the day, where it’s possible. At least, that’s what I’m striving for in these early seedling stages of my music and story-writing process.
I am so curious to hear and learn from the other ideas being discussed. Thanks for giving me the chance to share here!
My morning routine is getting up with my toddler, making me coffee and him breakfast, lighting the candle on my altar, and then writing Morning Pages—with anywhere from ten to a hundred interruptions from him. I would consider rising before him but my partner is getting ready for work at that time so it wouldn't actually be quiet alone time, so I just sleep in as long as he does. I have learned to come back to the page over and over and pick up the thought wherever I left it off and it works for me at the same time as me knowing it won't be this way for the rest of my life. :) Plus, since Morning Pages are stream-of-conscious they were already rather discontinuous even before becoming a parent.
Here's to giving your novel lots of love and attention! <3
Better late to the thread than never. My morning routine starts at 5am with an hour meditation. Exercise for 30/40 minutes- usually pilates w light weights/ running. Write morning pages. Read for an hour. It can be a book. It can be Substack. It can be anything I'm curious to learn about. Then I take a cold shower. That is what it looks like 85% of the time. I realized that having a routine helps me become freer. Happier. Kinder. Creatively more open. The hard part is doing it consistently. The hard part is not being hard on myself if I don't.
"being creative first, which often leads to more abundance" yasss times a thousand. I think I need this tattooed on my face.