As it stands, the ideal and the lately of my morning ritual:
5 am – The alarm. On my phone. Plugged in across the room. For the first ten seconds I always convince myself I’m dreaming still. Then I’m out of bed, half-blindly reaching for it and turning it off. I flip the light on over the mirror and brush my teeth. I take two One-A-Day Woman’s gummy vitamins and step on the scale. Step off. Grab my water bottle, drink.
5:05 am – Put my heat pack in the microwave. Open the Headspace app and listen to the daily message that preludes the meditation while I watch the seconds count down. Keep drinking water. The heat pack is ready. I sit on my living room chair, back straight but legs lifted and put the heat pack on my core. The mindfulness message ends and the guided meditation begins with deep breaths. A cat comes and sits on my lap — usually Merlin. Sometimes they switch during the meditation. Both their claws and Arthur’s occasional neediness can be very distracting but I like the weight on my legs and the heat pack on my stomach.
5:20 am – Open my eyes. Read. Currently These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly. Last week a draft of a story from someone in my critique group.
6:00 am – Write blog post. Or dilly dally to writing the blog post by continuing to read or by creating a social media card for 100+ Women Who Care Northern Door County and schedule it to post later today. Then write. Think about what to write or don’t. Write. Find an image. Post. Create an Instagram card in Canva for the blog. Share. Wonder why you still do that part.
7:00 am – Exercise. Do the warm-up from RunRx. The hip openers, the standing in pose, the ball of foot hops. Watch a RunRX live video while you do it to the catch-up. On non-running days, lift weights and do strength exercises while you watch. On running days, go run. Run on the greenbelt trail. Listen to an audiobook. Think about the running pose — upright, fall forward, shoulders-hips-ankles in line, up, up, up, up. Try not to trip over rocks. Stop when you need to but keep going. Come back, do the cooldown. Sit on your ankles, roll your feet, open your hips again. Stretch. Drink water.
Get ready. Go to work. Adapt as needed.
With Love,
Natalie