Early Mornings... and Creating Rituals for Happiness

 

For years I've been doing shift work. My start times have varied between 4:00 am and 6:30 pm from day to day, week to week and I always work 10 or 12 hour shifts. It's been so hard to have a routine and some sort of consistency in my life. When I was younger, this sort of schedule didn't bother me at all. But as my dear husband has pointed out recently, I am nearly over the hill and I feel my body rejecting this schedule (or non-schedule) quite a bit more.

The good news is I started a set schedule this month! For the next 4 months I'll work the same shift, with a 4:00 am start time. My brain keeps saying, over and over again, "OMG! You have to get up at 2 AM! You can't do this!" But my soul tries to reassure that everything will be okay. That I can learn to be a morning person. That winter is coming, so it will be easier to go to bed early. That all I need is a little routine, a little ritual, and I will thrive on this early shift!

That said, I've been working on a list of rituals that will assist me in an easy transformation into this routine.  But I had been focusing on evening rituals like, lavender oil in the air/on my pillow, making the room dark, breathing exercises, chamomile tea... I hadn't considered morning rituals to get my flow started in the morning, until I saw this article:

8 Ways to Make Your Mornings More Pleasant and Productive

Some of the ideas I really love and will implement right away.  Drinking water I have read over and over again.  Often times with the advice to add a little lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.  I think this is a relatively simply thing to add to my morning routine.  I also love the Stretch and Move advice.  I have been dealing with a back injury for a couple of months now and can see how this would help wake my body up and warm my back muscles for the day ahead..... of sitting at a desk.  I am always trying to include Meditation into my daily routine.  I struggle with this, a lot.  I think I will put this on my goal list for when we move (yes, we just moved 6 months ago and have to move again... that's a story for another time).

My rituals/routine for now:

Evenings:

     Chamomile Tea

     Lavender Oil in the air or on my pillow

     Darken the room

     Deep Breathes

     Epsom Salt Baths (as needed for de-stressing)

Mornings:

     Drink Water (add Lemon or Apple Cider Vinegar)

     Stretch  (My favorite stretches are from Thich Nhat Hanh - 10 Mindful Movements)

     Avoid Electronics

     And one for me.... as I work on cutting caffeine (particularly coffee as I use a lot of sweetened creamer in it, too) Drink Green Tea.  This way I will get some caffeine to get me going and avoid the unhealthy stuff in my coffee.