Murphy’s Law is alive and well!
There’s a couple of people I follow in my life – Regena Thomashauer & Marie Forleo – who both, separately and at different times, wrote books about marriage/relationships (as in, how to have a great marriage/relationship), and both experienced the ends of their marriage/relationships upon publishing those books. !! The irony was not lost on them!
Similarly, I decided to write this series about Routines – the how to’s, the importance of them….and somehow I am suddenly failing at following through on my own!
For years, my husband and I have attempted to find Morning Routine’s that work for us. Both of us knowing that waking way before Piper is really the only way to have some morning time to ourselves and set us up for a great day. But I’ve not always been able to keep it up for more than a couple of weeks. On April 1st of this year, for the first time we decided to jointly become members of the 5 am Club.And we were committed! 5 am every morning we were up – 20 minutes of stretching/yoga/PT exercises, 10 minutes of meditation, 20 minutes of journaling/planning the day – and 10 minutes of inspirational reading and/or prayer. And then shower and get ready for the day! All set up and ready for a great day before 7 am. And usually before Piper wakes up.
I stuck to this routine through house hunting, buying the home, packing, moving, unpacking, commuting Piper to school for the last month of the school year(40 minutes there and back, twice a day), recital, starting camp… All of it! Headspace, the app I use for meditation, kept track of my consecutive days of meditation…. 72. 72 days!! And then…. I honestly don’t know.
All I know is I started writing this series about routines, Tucker went on a business trip, Life got lesscomplicated and suddenly I’m not able to get out of bed. !!! I’m getting up sometime between 6 am and 6:30 – which is still early for some. But then, Piper is waking @ 6:30 also, and so I”m not really getting anything accomplished, and we’re just, like, awake.
Now – is this the end of the world? No, certainly not. And my Life is a much slower pace right now than it has been. So, I can certainly squeeze in my journaling and meditation at other times of the day. But honestly, not having the routine in place certainly makes a subtle yet big difference.
I’m less grounded – a little more scattered and vulnerable to the whims of the day and other people’s moods. I’m sort of behind the ball all day in terms of getting ready and then all other tasks happen later and later.
I’m definitely less efficient and less clear headed.
And when I don’t stick to a well thought out routine – and remember the purpose for it – then some other not-as-well-thought-out routine slips in. The routine of sleeping late, then the dog eats later and then needs a walk later. We get off to camp later, and we’re rushed and cranky about it. Goodbye’s are rushed, or perhaps take twice as long because our morning wasn’t grounded.
So – you know – theres you have it. I guess the saying is true “We teach what we most need to learn.” Routines are super powerful for our children, because they are super powerful for us. And to be a sturdy, dependable, grounded parent, available to the whims and furries of a child’s moods, I need to have solid routines in my life, so that I can implement some into hers as well.
Solid routines. Solid plans. Even if the plan is free time – I need to have a time set for how much free time, and where. And then solid home routines that we can depend on every day so that we all feel grounded. Morning routine, evening routine. For myself first – and then for Piper (and Biscuit!)
And now – we roll into the 4th of July holiday! So this week, I’ve got several patriotic songs/videos of mine from the past years. We’re heading out of town, too, for a vacation and a wedding so I’ll be in your inbox next week with a blast-from-the-past to keep you entertained!
Enjoy your holiday! I’m going to get some R&R and while also getting back to the 5 am club. I’ll let you know how it goes….
This Land is your Land with Marsha Goodman-Wood & Yosi Levin:
This Land is Your Land 2017:
America The Beautiful:
My Country Tis Of Thee:
I can certainly relate to the morning routine! I have had a morning routine in place for about 5 years which included a 2 mile walk before work. Suddenly my routine and my life was kind of sent in a tailspin by my job relocating me to a new location. Suddenly, I lost an hour a day due to having to commute much further, 1/2 mile to 9 1/2 miles. While that may not seem like much, it was a shock to me. Do I get up a half hour earlier? No, instead I no longer turn on my computer in the morning to catch up on emails, and the antics on Facebook. And there was the opposite in the evening, getting home later, eating later, going to bed later. I had to modify many of my routines to accommodate the new reality of a daily commute, no longer having the option of going home for lunch, which I greatly miss, and just the general disruption of my routines. And now, after almost a year of the new routine, I have settled into a new normal. While I sill don’t like some aspects, I have developed new habits that I can live with.
Thank you for letting me share with you.