Morning Routine

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Change! You got change? Can anyone spare any change!?! It’s part of our human instinct to crave something new, to shake up our senses, activate our positive emotions and reignite the life-spark. But we also crave routine, you could say on a more subconscious level. Some routines, like sitting on Facebook for hours, are negative. Some routines, like working out, are positive. And some routines like getting dressed in the morning fall in the category of getting dressed in the morning.
 
I recently learned the power of establishing positive morning habits or routines if you will. They can range from small to large efforts and yet have just as big an impact on the rest of your day and your weekly disposition. Focus on making yourself feel amazing and you might just do amazing things. Want to hear about my morning? Of course you do. First of all I wake up early regardless of what my plans are for the day, unless of course I ran in to my old buddy Tequila the night before. I had a 9-5 job years ago where they suddenly switched me to the 8-4 shift. As a result, I had to get used to waking up at 5:30-6 to get ready and to work on time. It was rough for the first month. I was dead tired, and every morning had to have the “should I call in sick” conversation with myself. Then suddenly the routine was in place, so much in place in fact that I was even waking up early on the weekends. Lame, right?! Wrong! I noticed how much energy I had in the morning and positive energy at that. When I sleep in till 9 or 10 I’m lazy and groggy, so not only have I already wasted some of the day away but I’m taking longer to gain my energy and alertness to get the day under way. I love that feeling when you’ve done the laundry, gone to the gym, picked out all the marshmallows from your Lucky Charms, and you look at the time and it’s still not 10am. I’m a nerd I know.
 
 
“Focus on making yourself feel amazing and you might just do amazing things.”
 
The second morning routine I constructed was singing or practicing my silly voices. I learned from the great and famous Hollywood voice trainer Roger Love, the therapeutic nature of doing voice exercises. People always assume that it’s just for singers or professionals, but it really is for everyone. For those who know me, two of my favorite things are silly voices and impressions, and Beatles songs. So no matter how I’m feeling in the morning or how nasty a mood I’m in, I discover that a smile and perhaps a laugh is quickly washed over my face once I take that 5 minutes to belt out that tune or re-enact a classic scene from The Simpsons. Our voice is an instrument of energy and we need to oil that instrument every day to let that energy reverberate throughout the rest of the day.
 
Gym. And lastly the gym. Yes I know this is the hardest routine to establish and maintain and the one most feared. And yes I know not everyone has time in their daily schedule to fit in this time-consumer, but it’s worth the effort. Like totally worth it. When it comes to altering the outcome of your day, this is the big one. The enchilada. The big kahuna. That ever so large straw that stirs the drink. Nothing shakes me out of my apathy, negative thoughts or depression like a good sweaty exercise to get the blood flowing. Ok, maybe sex, but that’s a good workout too. Where was I? Oh yes, I was saying that no matter how low you feel, the amazing ability of the body’s healing capacity is on great display with exercise. Loosening many muscles and bones and charging up those electrolytes is the perfect daily tonic and recipe for success. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been really upset with someone, *ahem mother, and was so close to saying something I might regret. But I take a deep breath, go workout for even just 20 minutes and all that anger and petty emotion is stripped away.
 
I’m not a morning person. Very few people are. But the morning is something we gotta deal with. And the more you wrangle yourself in to making it count the more your afternoon and evening are going to kick ass. I can honestly say I’ve got plenty of change to spare. Come and get it.
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