Daily writing prompt

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

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As I get older, I’ve come to realize that I prefer calmness, stillness and quiet first thing in the morning. And coffee. I think it’s an anxiety related issue perhaps, the calm and still part anyway.

I used to be able to get out of bed and have coffee and start doing the things I needed to do. However, I did always say that my mouth didn’t start working to form words until at least a few sips of coffee. But then about ten-ish years ago I started realizing I didn’t even like conversation first thing in the morning, I needed time on my own to wake up. And since the start of my fourth decade on this Earth, I have discovered books of the “personal development” genre and awakened to a whole new morning routine that I was actually beckoning for.

I read “Think Like a Monk” by Jay Shetty cover to cover four times, which was the gateway to “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” (Mark Manson), “The 5 am Club” (Robin Sharma), “The Power of Now” and “A New Earth” (Eckhart Tolle) and I realized that I was not alone in needing quiet and stillness in the morning. And not only that, it was an actual movement. I also purchased and read “The Little Book of Hygge” by Meik Wiking. So all things combined, I learned about meditation, deep breathing and hygge.

Around this time I received a journal as a Christmas gift from my oldest daughter. My very first journal as an adult. I was quite set.

My morning routine became this. I light a candle or two (hence the hygge) and get situated on the couch with my cozy soft blanket and lots of pillows around. Coffee first, then I use a jade roller on my face and neck which helps wake my face up but also relaxes me. I do some deep breathing while I use it. Then I think of all the things I am grateful for. Sometimes it’s just three or four things but it’s better than nothing. If I have a current “self realization” type of book on the go, I read a few pages, just a few. And I find two quotes either online or from a book about thinking better/feeling better/living better which I send to my small following on Snapchat.

Once that’s out of the way I’ll either journal or read blogs (get my Megan Miles fix) and post on WordPress, naturally. And sometimes I meditate. I need to make this more of a constant in my life, at one point I was meditating every single morning but I’ve fallen away from that for some reason.

I do try and get up early, between five and six am, before the rest of the house so that I can find this solitude and quietness first thing or it seems my whole day is thrown off. Having these routines in the morning helps to tamp down my anxiety. I laugh when I see the coffee mugs or tshirts that read “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my morning coffee” cause my version would be “don’t talk to me til I’ve had my morning coffee, used my jade roller, finished my deep breathing, practiced gratefulness, read a few pages, sent off my positive quotes and meditated”.