My morning routine (or lack thereof)

I have been reading a little newsletter called My Morning Routine. Every Wednesday, I get a description of someone else’s mornings: wake-up time, breakfasts, etc. I agreed to write up my morning routine for them. I dutifully answered the questions. I was proofreading my responses, and now have been sitting on my answers for several days. The reason?

I have no morning routine.

I really wish I did. I wrote a book about morning routines. I do admit in the book that there was an aspirational element to writing it. I very much admire people who start their days in a conscious manner, advancing them toward the lives they want. I know in the periods of my life when I have had morning routines, I have enjoyed them, and found them a great way to start the day.

But right now it is just not happening.

First of all, there is baby roulette. What time will he wake up? It’s anyone’s guess. I could be up at 5:15 for good, or I could be up at 1, 5, and then have the little dude sleep until 8:30 a.m., which means I’m passed out until 7:30 or later. I’m not sleeping with a baby monitor; I have no desire to hear every little noise. I am asleep in a room down the hall with my door closed. When he is up he is really up. I have a lot of dreams these days where some scene is happening and then there is the introduction of a crying baby plot twist and then… crap.

It is a phase. This too shall pass. I know that when my 3-year-old was about 2.5 years old, I started to feel a lot more control over my schedule. So I’ll be there again in 2 years. In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out what elements of a morning routine I can make happen.

There are certain things I do every morning. For instance, I feed the baby. I shower. So there’s that. I drink my coffee with heavy cream, and it is amazing. I make myself a veggie omelet for breakfast.

The question is what else I can incorporate. One option, during the summer, is to go outside and drink my coffee on the porch. I did that this morning for a solid 45 minutes, sitting with the baby, checking my phone some, but also just looking at the trees and the sky. We have a flowering crepe myrtle that is in full bloom, and it is lovely to look at, though it is somewhat of a memento mori, as its twin died during the deep freeze this winter (woe betide landscapers who plant outside their USDA hardiness zone!) I could bring my journal and jot down a few things. Or just sit and ponder life. This can be done for any amount of time, since it is never clear how much time I will have, and is at least a quiet way to start the day before the other kids wake up. A morning routine need not be elaborate to still feel like a good routine.

What would you suggest I try to incorporate?