By the time I start work (at home) at 10am, I have had breakfast, done a yoga practice, exercised, slurped up a smoothie, showered, and done one hour of writing.
Disappointed that every line of Gilmore Girls has not been captured and/or gif’d with captions, so I made this myself.
I used to say “I’m nocturnal” because it was so easy for me to stay up until the wee hours of the morning. Of course, it’s been many years since I had the freedom of not having a schedule for a long enough period of time for me to let my daily cycle shift that much. Now that I have a loose daily schedule (I have to be available to my coworkers Monday through Friday, and most work a 9ish-5ish day, but I don’t clock in or anything strict), I’ve actually chosen to start my day quite early. How unlike me, I thought. But maybe not. Maybe it comes with age. (Hello, my thirties!)
Well, actually, it started because of a heat wave. It was too damn hot to go outside during the day. And the one time I went for an evening bike ride, the riverside park was full of people taking pictures of the sunset (“What, have these people never seen a sunset before?” I said to myself, taking for granted my tenth floor west-facing balcony from which I watch the sun set every evening) and on the way back, my face was absolutely pelted with bugs. So, it had to be mornings if I wanted to get outdoors at all. Early enough that it wasn’t too hot, and the river beach wasn’t too crowded (just me and the seniors doing their water aerobics).
It was hard at first, still is some mornings, just to get my butt out of my comfy bed and out the door right away, but I immediately felt that this was a great way to start my day. By the time I start my work day, I’ve already done so many enjoyable things that my work day doesn’t feel like such a drag. My old schedule, which included a commute that took up almost 2 hours of my day, meant my mornings were just a rush to get ready to catch that bus and my days were structured work first, personal time second. Well, we all know how we feel coming home from work; tired, cranky, hungry, and tired. I would shove food in my mouth while watching tv, and then probably just continue to lie there watching old tv until I flopped into bed. Where was that personal time I was promised? After work, I didn’t feel like doing anything that I wanted or needed to do. But starting my day with something that makes me feel good (wading through the water at the river, or spying on my fox friends at the cemetery) makes the rest of the day feel like less of a drag. Work is no longer the thing keeping me from getting home and doing what I want to do- it’s stuck between, and amongst, the things I want and need to do at home.
If I put all my exercise and enjoyable outdoor time after my work day, I’d say “fuck it” and just stay home, on the couch. I know this because, before this morning routine, I never exercised and rarely used my bike in the summers. (Who wants to go out for a bike ride, when it’s 6:30pm, you haven’t had dinner yet, and you’re already hot and sweaty just from your commute time?) And even this summer, with this morning routine in place, I wasn’t getting any writing done. I was scheduling it for after I’d done my work hours. Even without an annoying commute, I did not have the motivation after a work day to continue to work on my personal work. So, I moved my hour of writing practice to the morning and I started actually writing every morning- and looking forward to it.
I heard/saw (probably in a Marie Forleo video) something about how to organize your daily task list; identify your tasks as either important or urgent. Do the important tasks first. The urgent tasks will get done today because they have to; they’re urgent. Writing is important to me, so I do it first. Then, when I start my work day, I’ve really got nothing too important waiting for me after work. I can work more hours, if I need to in order to get the day’s urgent tasks done, without feeling like it’s eating into my personal evening time.
What do I do in the evening? Dinner- yum. Then lazy tv watching most days, let’s be real. Ideally, I commit to watching a new movie (at 9pm, when it’s dark enough that there’s no glare on the tv and it will be done by 11pm, which is bed time). But, I feel no pressure to do anything because I’ve gotten everything important and urgent done today. Oh, but what about those annoying chores, like doing dishes (the worst)? When do those get done? They’re also done by the evening because I break up my work day with a couple long breaks in order to do stuff like make lunch, do some dishes or other cleaning, maybe do my French lessons on Duolingo, read a book, or just play with my Tamagotchi. When I worked in the office, I would start to feel tired and cranky around 3pm. And then, though I stayed at my desk and “worked” for another couple hours, I wasn’t able to focus, so I wasn’t really getting any more work done. Putting all my work hours together in one 7-8 hour chunk doesn’t work for me. Actually, no one can focus for that long at once. (There are studies- I just don’t have them with me, okay?) I break up my work hours into two hour chunks, so I can focus for two hours, then I have an hour to eat, clean, etc. before returning to focus on my work again. I keep the momentum going of getting shit done, but switching between my day job and my housework/personal work keeps me from burning out on any one task. I’m keepin’ it fresh up in here. (And if I do feel cranky around 3pm, a quick nap is always an option.) And, so, my evenings are truly free for maxin’ chillaxin’ and I don’t get sudden “anxiety tummy” (as I call it) right before bedtime because going to bed no longer means “so long life, until 6pm tomorrow” it means “I’m looking forward to dipping my toes in the water in the morning.”
And I do this everyday, not just weekdays. I’ve found if I let go of all structure just because I don’t have to work, I get nothing done. If I don’t start my day off with at least some of my morning routine then the day is wasted. I give up and lay in front of a screen, not even wanting to look at my task list to find something mildly productive to do. And then Mondays feel like such a drag because I’m starting a new routine all over again. It sounds boring, keeping everyday the same, but there’s always something different about the day. Since the world changed and evenings and weekends aren’t what they used to be, I feel less pressure to divide up work and play in the 9-5 weekly structure. I take it easy on weekends, but don’t totally give up.
So, I guess I’m a morning person now! I’m also a work-from-home person now, and I hope forever. I’m feeling much better, physically and mentally, and getting more done, for work and for myself, working in the comfort of my sunny apartment in my underwear (as long as I put on a nice shirt for video meetings, no one knows). It took a while, but I am indeed living my best pandemic life.