I am not a morning person.

That thought has been ingrained in me for a long time. Why? Well, because it seems true! It’s rarely hard for me to stay up late. I get lots of ideas in the quiet of late hours, and always think thoughts like, “ok, 10 more minutes and I’ll get to bed.” Then, I repeat several times. And, mornings? Well, let’s just say I still don’t understand those people that jump out of bed the minute the alarm goes off. I relish a few more minutes in warm blankets when I can get them. I have set 5 alarms before, and managed to easily snooze or shut off all of them and it didn’t bother me one bit.

But.

I really wanted a morning routine. I wanted to get up earlier to focus on the things I wanted to do.  I envisioned rocking out a workout, yoga, journaling and sitting down for a leisurely cup of tea, making a smoothie, and then getting ready for work and out the door all before 7:30 am. I greatly appreciate how impactful it is to start our days off with intention and focus on our goals. It sets the whole tone for the day. I have read about the difference it has made in many successful people’s lives.

So, the first time, I mapped out to the minute how I was going to get all this done and I saw the “morning routine” as a one habit I was going to develop. (This was error number one.) I was going to wake up 2 hours earlier, and knock all these things out. Let’s just say I failed on this pretty royally. The rare times I actually got up early and tried to do some treadmill, I would feel nauseous, even if I ate a little something to get food on my stomach. Nausea is not my idea of a powerful start to the day. Further, I was attempting too big of a change all at once. “Morning routine” is not one task or one habit. It is a lot of smaller things and I needed to break it down.

On the next attempt, I realized that I needed to treat these things separately. First, I slowly worked back my waking time. It took a little while, and ebbed and flowed, but I can say that I successfully helped my body to naturally wake up earlier (and consciously going to bed earlier as well). But, I decided I was still going to try and do all the things, but with less time. 10 minutes of walking, 5 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes of journaling. You get the idea. This, I think, is a really great strategy — to start micro small with a new habit, not worrying about whether it is “enough”, but just focusing on creating the habit. However, I was adding them all at once, and I truthfully just never managed to regularly do all of them.

Then, it occurred to me, even though I envisioned myself as one of those exercise in the morning people, and yes, I could make it work if I really want to, my body feels more energized in the afternoon and evening. And then I thought, if the idea is to really get my day started off as I would really like to, what does that look like? Guess what? It didn’t include any exercise other than yoga. I’d rather spend my time writing, yoga and easefully eating and getting ready for the day. Just the thought that I could do it this way was exciting to me. I can create what works for me, and I can keep tweaking and evolving it as needed. Take what works, modify what doesn’t.

It is still in progress. I am up earlier, writing, getting time to make a smoothie, and still working on the consistency of getting in the yoga. Which is totally fine. One element at time. Then I may work on lengthening time of these things. But, I feel good about where I am, and where this is heading.

I have also realized that the thought that I am not a morning person is not useful. I mean, there were years that I worked a job that was 7am to 7pm. I had no problem making that work. When the kids were babies, I was often up at the crack of dawn. So, now I work on telling myself that I am a morning person, and that helps my brain remember that it’s possible to create new habits and perspective. Now, just like the recognition of my more optimal time for exercise, I am not ignoring that normal predilection for being more energized at night. But, I think there is a happy middle ground. I can’t imagine that I will ever be one those that gets up at 4am and meditates for an hour. But getting up a little earlier to focus on my intentions, my day, and my wellbeing? That I can do.

And on Saturday? All bets are off. The blinds will be closed and the blankets will be utilized as long as I please.