Making use of the early mornings…
A while ago I read a lovely book by the wonderful Danny Gregory. In it he talks about how he creates an extra hour in his day by getting up early, and describes what he does with it.
For the longest time now I’ve been waking up very early. It doesn’t seem to matter what time I go to bed, my eyes snap open somewhere between 5.00 and 6.00am and that’s it, I’m awake. I used to think, partly because panic of using up my energy and not being able to have a “normal” day, that I just had to stay in bed and rest. Recently though I’ve been embracing my early mornings. I get up and make myself a cup of tea, potter in the kitchen, come back to bed and drink my tea and then just get up. I do a little yoga, have my bath, make a cup of coffee and then head out to my studio, not worrying that it is still dark outside.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed how tidy my kitchen is after my early hours pottering, how much I seem to be getting done in my studio (I’m bribing myself with the promise of a cooked breakfast if I stay out there for an hour and work) and how much less my joints creak and complain after a little yoga every morning.
By 2.00pm I’m ready for a nap, but after a satisfyingly production morning I even quite enjoy that.
Am I sounding like Pollyanna?
Great to hear about your mornings. I love them, too! My days typically begin at 5am and I enjoy the early quiet for yoga/stretching (these days in front of the wood stove) and enjoying a leisurely breakfast reading the news. I’m in my office studio around 7am and am ready for lunch at 11am. After the lunch, the key to my happiness is a nap! I usually set a kitchen timer for 22min and use a day bed in my living room. Occasionally I’ll take a later afternoon nap as well of 10 – 20 minutes. Sometimes I’ll work in evenings, but my computer has to be off by 9pm, or I usually get grumpy.
Cheers, Maria
you sound happy
Looks to me like you’ve just made the best use of being in synch with your natural body clock & biorhythms, so go with the flow. And there’s now’t wrong wi’ a Siesta either. Plenty of cultures enjoy and benefit from havin’ ‘em.
Lately I have been setting my alarm for 7:00. Thing is, I wake up an hour earlier. I use the time to read emails and tweet.
Glad to hear your extra time is spent doing the things you want to do.
Susan, I wonder if it’s a sign of getting older that I never seem to wake up to my alarm, that and the fact that I have a furry alarm clock in the shape of my cat that decides regularly that 5.00am is when she thinks the household should surface…