Get up!

Until a few years ago I was not a morning person. I am still not a morning person but I get up before the sunrise pretty much everyday now. I have an alarm set but I generally wake up before it goes off. Once I am awake I have a decision to make: get up or snooze a little bit more. Not gonna lie I do hit the snooze button every so often.

Part of that initial waking up process is checking in with myself. How does my body feel? What is my mood? At first I just observe these things. I may be sore and in a grumpy mood but that is mostly just mental. Once I reset myself I get up and get going.

Morning routine is something I have written about before. Having a routine that you don’t have to think about is critically important in the morning. My mind is still waking up so decisions are going to take longer and doubt is going to creep in. My getting up and brushing my teeth and putting in my contacts I have already accomplished two goals.

Then I head for my workout room and get some type of exercise in. Lately it has been strength training as I prepare for our January rafting trip. I am going to be rowing our own raft down the Usumancinta and I want to be strong and capable all day. Find something to exercise for and setup your workouts to help.

After my workout I will start writing a blog post and making coffee. The workout helps me get doubts out of my head so when I start writing I have more focus. The coffee also helps with focus and I love the routine of making coffee and drinking it. If you aren’t a coffee person maybe tea makes sense. I think having the small process of making something before writing helps get the mind into the writing process. I will also make my breakfast smoothie around this time so that I am getting calories into my body.

This is my current morning routine. Its cold and snowy outside so I am not going for my morning rides. A colleague wrote about his indoor bike trainer recently and I will probably get one soon. I prefer to ride outside but its much safer to ride indoors right now. Being able to ride my bike anytime in nice conditions through the winter will be great.