Persephone Says - Whoever invented 5:45am should be shot.

Hi y'all!

I think I am going to use "Persephone Says" on my main posts, so you know it's me instead of Abby.  Just for the record though, here's the posting schedule:

Persephone - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and every other Sunday.

Abby - Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and every other Sunday.

You guys get me today and tomorrow, as I opted for the first Sunday.  (I say that like we have any followers yet, but whatevs)

On guest posts (of which we have a few lined up), I'll make sure I let y'all know who you're reading.

OK, so onto my actual posting.

Today was my first day on the new morning routine.  My therapist and I discussed starting on a weekend so that I have time to A: get used to it, and B :measure how long it actually takes to do the whole routine.  With a slight hiccup first thing this morning, I managed to do my routine in two hours.

Here is what my routine was supposed to be this morning:

Alarm goes off

Read for 15 minutes

Physical Therapy Routine / Stretching

Shower / Get Dressed / Make-Up

Make Breakfast Smoothie / Start tea prep

Drink Smoothie while writing

Finish tea prep

(And had I been leaving for work - grab the tea and go)

I had a little hiccup when the alarm went off, which is not all that surprising actually, but I think it can be solved by picking up a reading lamp for the bedside table, and also by adjusting which alarms go off at 5:45a and which go off at 6:05a (to signify that reading time is over).

I also want to tweak the smoothie / tea routine so that it's a little more fluid, and move make-up to the very end, since the smoothie drinking pretty much eliminated my very modestly applied lipstick.  (You guys will come to learn that I hate wearing make-up, but it's highly encouraged at work, so I'm trying to suck it up and deal.)

Tomorrow's proposed routine - 

Alarm off

Read for 15 minutes

Second alarm off

Physical Therapy Routine / Stretching

Shower 

Start hot water for tea

Get dressed

Take meds

Make smoothie / immediately clean blender

Dry my hair

Drink smoothie while writing

Make-up

Finish tea process

Gather stuff and go

 

I think this revised plan will move a little more organically, and may even shave some time.  It's my desire to have a 90 minute routine, but I think that might take me a while.

10pm rule - 

Most of the research I've done has mentioned that the key to morning routine success is to prep everything the night before that you can.  It suggests doing so at 10pm, so that you are still awake and functional enough to make decisions, thus eliminating decisions and chaos in the mornings when the brain first wakes up.  My therapist jumped all over this, and told me that I need to stop all my schoolwork by 10pm as well, so she likes that I'll have this nightly routine in place to help.

My 10pm Rule Routine:

Pick out clothes for the next morning, and lay them out on the edge of the bed.  

Organize make-up on the vanity so it's automatic in the morning.  (Meaning, choose in advance eyeliner / lipstick colors, etc, and lay everything out in order)

Place wallet / keys / pocket stuff in one location, and make it the same location every night

Structure / set-up my writing exercise for the morning, as well as setting desk up for morning writing instead of school.  (Reducing clutter frees the mind for creative flow)

Gather purse / Nook / stuff to take to work and place it by the front door

Lay out chosen book and glasses on the bedside table

Make sure smoothie prep has been done (this is more on a weekly basis, but is something to verify nightly)

Fill tea pot, place on burner, lay out tea stuff such as mug, tea bag, sweetener and spoon

In order to get this to flow as smoothly as possible, I have a few things to go pick up at the store, such as a reading lamp and more tiny Tupperware containers that I can use to divvy up the forzen fruit for smoothies.  I like the ease of just dumping a correctly portioned container into the blender, which has been given permanent counter space so that it's already ready to go.

So tomorrow is take two of the morning routine, and since tomorrow is ALSO my day, I'll let y'all know how I did.  

-Seph