Winter Solstice is here! The longest night of the year.
I’ve become quite the morning person, much to my surprise, given that not so long ago my regular bedtime was 2am!
Aiaiai!
That’s hard for me to imagine now, as I typically wake up in the velvety depths of 6:30am — or even 5:30am, as I did this morning — and do my shoulder rehab exercises while it’s still dark outside.
I actually love getting up early. It affords me time to do my full morning ritual:
- Stretching in bed
- Strength training (the aforementioned shoulder rehab)
- Meditation (usually 10 minutes)
- Hip flexor stretch
- Writing in my journal
- Doodling! (That’s my creative sandbox playtime 🙂 )
Then lately I’ve been doing vocal exercises while I make my tea, prepare my breakfast, put dishes away, and feed the kitty.
If I get up early enough, I can get all of this in before I step onto my treadmill desk at 9am!
Of course, that requires getting to bed early, or I suffer from lack of sleep. And lack of sleep is NOT acceptable.
And unfortunately, many of the things I love to do preclude me from getting to bed early!
It’s an ongoing challenge…
I don’t have this figured out yet. I’ll keep you posted if I come up with a magical solution!
In the meantime, I’m working on celebrating the successes I manage to achieve, rather than beating myself up for the inevitable failures.
This is also a constant challenge! But the effort is deeply worthwhile.
Focusing on failures leads to no good.
Noticing where I’d like to improve is useful, certainly, but beating myself up is utterly fruitless!
I’ve taken to snapping an elastic bracelet on my wrist whenever I notice myself berating myself in any way, for the sole purpose of waking myself up out of my mindless zombie state.
It’s helping!
Focusing on successes, on the other hand, is like practicing gratitude: it boosts the mood and brings more goodness our way!
I’m making an effort to notice what I’ve accomplished each day — literally writing it down — so my attention goes to the positive, rather than the negative.
It’s helping, too.
So although my days aren’t always as productive as I’d like, I choose to focus on what’s going well.
I intentionally choose to do this, and I am reminding myself, right now, to do this, going forward!
As we wrap up 2018 and move into the New Year, what choices are you making to make your life as positive, joyful, and full-color as it can be?
