Morning Routine sometimes chaos.

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

4/4/24

3:23 am

I am an expert at productive morning routines but consistency is my biggest weakness.

I attribute this inconsistency to my major depressive disorder. It is this constant wave of emotions that makes it sometimes hard to manage.

On my most productive days, I have gotten my allotted 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I get up, fix my bed, change clothes, wash my face and brush my teeth. I put on a pot of coffee and say good morning to my son and the cats.

Afterwards, I do my morning meditation then stretches to reduce the pain and stiffness of my dysfunctional body. I then check the calendar for any appointments. Take a shower if needed then change again into my clothes for the day.

Then my day begins. All together it takes up to an hour and a half. Those are the good days.

Then there are the days of chaotic moments.

I have woken up several times throughout the night, didn’t go to sleep until early in the morning, slept too long, or fell asleep too early. Then I am awake at 3:23 am posting to my blog in response to a writing prompt. 🙂

I will finally get back to sleep at 5 in the morning, sleep until noon or 1 pm or only sleep for another hour, it’s never the same. The minute my brain recognizes the morning sunlight, I am fully awake.

I won’t do morning meditation or stretching, I skip the shower and better breakfast heading straight for the coffee and leftover cold pizza from the day before. I take an 800 mg ibuprofen for the pain.

I won’t make the bed right away and will stay in my pajamas until late afternoon, sometimes all day puttering around the house in my fuzzy slippers and oversized hoodies.

Those days I am not motivated, creative, nor happy to be awake. I just want to sleep more or stare blankly at a screen.

It does not matter whether it is the television, desktop monitor, laptop screen or my phone. The bingeing of television shows, movies, or endless scrolling will occur.

Thinking, more like overthinking, is the norm in those moments. Emotions run high and patience is low.

Then I finally start waking up around 8 or 9 in the evening. I will suddenly get a boost of energy and start or finish my crafting projects, writing for my blog, or finally clean up the house. I will either go to sleep before midnight or I may not because I have already napped several times during the day.

The chaos do not happen as often as it used to. I would be in that state for sometimes weeks or months. It would cause missed appointments, lost jobs, financial issues, and tense relationships.

Now, it happens every couple of months for a few days before I can get it back to “normal”. It is a struggle mentally and emotionally, sometimes physically but it can be managed. Over ten years of therapy and practice had to be done first.

Like I said before, I have become an expert on morning routines. 😉

Time to try and get in those last two hours of sleep again before the 7:30 alarm goes off.

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a wonderful day!

Peace, love, happiness, good vibes, and lots of restful sleep to you!

Suzanne