I am a morning person. I always have been. It is an unusual day that I don't wake up before my iPad goes off with "All Over the World" by ELO. (I used to use Mr. Blue Sky but changed it last week).

I go to bed early, around 9:30 or 10:00PM, read for 30 minutes and then lights out.

My GF is a late night person (usually 12:30AM) so she sleeps later in the morning. On weekends, I stay up with her but I still wake up around 6-6:30. I love that time. It is quiet and I can take my time waking up and enjoying my coffee.

I really don't think that you can make an early bird a night owl or vice versa.

I have been an early bird since I was a little girl.

I have never been a morning person. I like to ease into my day for the most part. My fam always said the only way I would rush out the door is if my house was on fire-- and they were not lying. I have just never been that person.

I think the key has been for me to discipline myself to go to bed at a decent time. Not at midnight or 1am and expect to feel "fresh" when I have to get up by 5:30am.

Also, I have never needed an alarm clock. Once my body gets used to a certain time I just get up then (even on the weekends). Not sure how it does it, but it always has even when I was younger.

I am not a morning person really, I get up when I have to go to work or do stuff before it gets too hot during the day.

I get up, go to the bathroom, shower, get dressed and drink a cup of coffee. Then off to start my day!

My routine is EVERYTHING in the morning. That only happened about 5 years ago because (1) I started going to bed on time, and (2) I developed some memory problems. My memory meds don't kick in until awhile after I take them, so if I don't have a routine in the morning, I just wander around and try to remember why I'm standing in whatever room, until they do.

• Wake up to alarm at 5:45 or 6:15 (this is the only variable - depends on if I have to wash and dry my hair)
• Take first med, get up, restroom
• Make breakfast, always Campbell's Cream of Tomato soup and whatever else is handy
• Take second med
• Eat breakfast and watch a half-hour show on Netflix, or half of a one-hour show
• Take out Tiny Dog and feed Diva Kitty
• Take rest of a.m. (pre-sorted) meds
• Shower, maybe wash hair
• Dry and style hair
• Deodorant
• Teeth
• Makeup and skin care
• Pre-selected outfit and jewelry (I select all my outfits on Sunday night for the week)
• Restroom again
• Leave for work at 8:45 a.m.
• Arrive in my office around 9:15 a.m., where I make a K-cup coffee, and am at my desk before 9:30 a.m. start time

It took me awhile to develop this schedule, and then I wrote it down and hung it over my bed where I would frequently refer to it. I don't have it hung up any more, but I do still have it written down in my day planner - where I write down everything (digital does not work for me). I also have a list for bed time; it makes getting to bed on time a lot easier.

M-F it is pretty much the same every day weekends are more free form
-Alarm goes off at 3:30a
-Hit the loo
-Let the houndies out
-Heat the water for tea
-Unload the dishwasher
-Let the houndies in
-Make the tea
-Sit on the edge of the bed and play with my phone while the tea steeps
-Sip said tea and stare out at my garden in a daze
-Clean up pee pads in the bathroom (the little dog has bladder issues)
-Mop the bathroom floor and put down more pads
-Make sure my brother has everything he needs for the day while I am gone
-Pack work food (I cook for the week on the weekend)
-Shower
-Hair and makeup
-Check my appointment calendar for what meetings I have coming up that day
-Stare at clothes in closet waiting for the best work outfit ever to make itself apparent, wear something less spectacular if that doesn't happen
-Wander the garden for a bit to see what is what with my plants
-Drive to work, it usually takes about 30 min
-Make a pot of tea for my desk, usually at my desk around 6ish
-Look at my to do for the day and my appointments
-Sip tea and enjoy the silence (no one is in yet)
-Answer emails and get going on my day

When I was in high school I had to get myself up every day and take a city bus to school. My
Dad married a woman who lived a bit away from my high school, and I didn't want to change my senior year when we moved. I had to set my alarm clock across the room so that I would have to get out of bed to turn it off.

My morning routine NEVER varies, even if I have to be somewhere early, as the pets have to be taken care of before I do anything for me. If my routine gets thrown off, then I forget my pills or something equally as important as I stand in the middle of the room wondering what to do with myself.

Hey, Smiling ... Just seeing your posting. I am a morning person and love getting up before dawn, have been doing it since I was a teenager when I would get up to make breakfast for my father. I go to bed early. Usually around 8pm and am asleep by 9. I often wake up around 2am and cat nap till 4am. The later I go to bed, the later I get up, so I make a point of going to bed early. And, I don't have children at home—that would change everything. With children I would get up later and go to bed later (to keep an eye on them).

coffee for sure...
femme up ...

sit quietly... get online news...
study a lil bit on khan academy...art history and bio right now...
read something that inspires me...have "principle centered leadership" next to me right now... ( s. covey )...

write a heartfelt email to hym...
ask a question of myself...not looking for an immediate answer but somehow it finds me over time...

read some useful and a lil useless fb stuff...

femme up a lil more lol...
get in my truck... listen to NPR ...

step out into my day...staying in the moment...
grateful...
so very much to be grateful for...

I drink herbal tea in the morning, sometimes I have juice too, however I always have water.

I've been getting up early my entire life. More often than not, I am up before my alarm goes off at 4 am. I give myself an hour for breakfast, and playing solitaire. Sometimes I'll grab some fb time. Half an hour for getting dressed, personal hygiene, and preparing for work. Then I am off to work, I either walk or take the bus.

Like Liam, I start my mornings with water. I add lemon juice and cayenne pepper to it. I seldom have coffee and when I do it's decaf. I have too much energy for caffeine.

Something else ... I've gotten up early most of life, with the exception of when I was first married. My husband and I would party all night on the weekends and get up at 5pm to start the day.

And before I was married, I was a sex worker for a number of years and even then I was able to get up early and go to bed relatively early—I worked the businees crowd during the daytime hours. Getting up early is just something that's always worked for me.

I too am a morning person. When I was a runner, that was my prime running time even (or especially) in the summer. My whole mind and body just thrived on those runs or swims.

This thread is like a big "Well, do that again; you even belong to a gym and pool that opens at 5:00 AM" to me. There's no good reason why I couldn't make that a routine again and get ready for work at the pool. It just takes organization and non-laziness. Even a goal of a few mornings a week to start is good.

I have found, indeed, that a morning started right makes the day work much better. If I am rushed, disorganized, or crashing from hunger, forget it.

This, henceforth, is my picture of a great morning:

6:00 Wake up, read something inspirational, gratitude and joy journal, stretch
6:30 Gym for a run or swim, followed by my reward of a hot tub soak.
7:15-8:00 Get ready for work at gym; once at work mentally calm and center myself and eat the light breakfast I already packed in my bag (vending machine stuff is not breakfast).

I need to be my best self for myself, my family, and my students who are looking to me for a role model.

Morning Routine
 

Jump out of bed in the dark, then turn on the local news and read social media for a few minutes. I make coffee and food, clean up the house, shower, dress, and start my day.

Sometimes I throw the nurff football for the kitty.
Morning love notes make for a happy day. :)

:gimmehug:


:playingcat:

4:45 am:
Bring coffee to Mr. Jenny, put on exercise clothes, walk dogs, make bed, straighten living room and kitchen, take out trash

5:30 am:
kiss Mr. Jenny goodbye
bath/hair/makeup

6:15-8:15 am:
write/study

8:15 am:
change into dress and heels, put on jewelry, perfume, etc., pour coffee into travel mug and put water and grounds in coffeemaker for tomorrow, set timer, Turn up AC to 77, put dogs into crates

8:30 am:
get in car, call Mr. Jenny from driveway to tell her I am about to be on the road

Workdays.....


-open eyes at 5:30am
- think "ugh!"
- walk like zombie to put coffee on
- shower
- drink coffee and play online
- walk dog
- get dressed for work and do bathroom stuff (brush teeth etc)
- gather my things and more coffee and head out the door.
- drive
- park
- texting
- go into work


Quite exciting isn't it? ;)

I wake up, look around me, blink a few times, say "Thank You", start my day.

I grab the paper, read the obituaries, and if my name isn't there, I'm good to go:glasses:

I have done it ;). Second morning of my "perfect morning" picture of rise, inspiration, swim and get ready for work.

Even though "go to work" for a couple more weeks means "walk into my home office and switch on computer", I've been using this time as a kind of dress rehearsal for the real thing-refining my bag, timing (including mock driving to work from the gym), that sort of thing.

I refined the routine, also. I added music, exclusively upbeat or rocking tunes. Whatever makes me bop in the seat or even shake it in the bedroom :). I added a site of inspirational quotes to my morning reading. I had to eliminate all news sites and anything political (including the election thread on this site). If that makes me out of touch, oh well. This has begun something deeper than the original question, at least for me.

I feel nothing less than a crusade for taking radical care of myself emotionally, spiritually and physically. This is very different than how I operate.

You know how you paint or redecorate a room, and then the rest of the house is "ugh"? I thought, well, if this "positive things only" movement benefits the morning, what's up with watching Maury and the like in the afternoons with that parade of dysfunction and stress? Why does lunch break down to a fistful of cookies? Dinner ordered from a box? And we won't talk about my sleep habits. I already know that my ADHD self needs order and beauty in my home. When the house is messy, I'm messy. I have some work to do.

Convicted again. I can't tell my students about being their best selves and then go home to Chips Ahoy, trash TV and a growing archaeological dig of laundry in my bedroom (with its unmade bed).

Maybe self-care is a ever growing project, with no time that you fully "get it" but rather you evolve to deeper layers. So rather than beat myself up, maybe it's more caring to say "It's just now that you're seeing the dust on your soul; forgive yourself, grab a rag, and go to work".

Yoga and coffee are my least variables in my morning routine...

Most days I'm coming home after a 12 or 14 hour shift. On those days it's coffee then yoga then breakfast.

On my days off, like today, it's yoga while coffee brews and then breakfast.

Then it'll be music while I clean (I'm feeling for Chopin today) and today I may make an early lunch so I can head out for a good hike with the dogs.

Routine
 

Work mornings - I get up at 5:00 am, make coffee to go, pack breakfast and lunch to go, shower, dress, feed the kitties and head out the door in 50 minutes to catch the commuter van.

Weekends - get up around 8:00 am lounge around for a couple of hours make a big breakfast, shower, dress, and run errands.