At the end of 2018, after a bit of intentionally planned quiet time around the holidays, I gave some thought to what changes I wanted to make in 2019. One of the things that emerged was taking a long look at a morning routine.
There’s always a lot of chatter on the internet about the importance of morning routines. How, if you make time for one, it will help you set the energy you want for the day. I’ve had a morning routine for as long as I can remember, but there was something missing. Intentional writing.
Years ago I devoured Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way”. It fell into my lap early in my empty nesting journey, I started Morning Pages and wrote, and wrote, and wrote. And then somewhere along the way I stopped. It wasn’t a conscious choice so much as it was replaced by other pieces of life.
I was surprised to find a re-emerging desire to create a space for that in my life. The other part – I wanted to challenge myself with establishing a new habit and making a commitment to be accountable to it.
My Discoveries:
To do anything, you have to just start. I know! What a surprise.
I didn’t put parameters on the writing by defining it or making it about someone else’s structure, prompts, writing down 5 gratitudes every day, 5 goals or intentions, choosing one focus for the day, etc. Those are ALL great ideas and if that’s how you want to do it, go for it!
I didn’t worry about having the “right” notebook (full confession – this has stopped me in the past). I’ve used a spiral notebook and a pencil. For me, it worked. Perfectly. (If you want a beautiful and special journal, take a look at my friend Jennifer’s Moments Journal!)
I committed to writing every morning before I looked at my phone. I wanted to be still enough to hear my own words before reading anyone else’s.
I knew from my prior experience with morning pages that I wanted to write on paper. Not on my computer.
My goal was simply to write for 15 minutes every day, and to build a new habit by repeating it. It was as much about re-exploring how to build a new habit as it was about the writing.
I chose to let the writing be about my own exploration of what needed to come out that day. That’s it.
Why am I writing an entire blog post about this? Because I started this practice on December 28, 2018. I’m now on day 74 and haven’t missed a day. EVERY day there have been epiphanies, aha moments. You know the ones where you look at the words you just wrote out on the page and think … “really? Seriously? You hadn’t figured that out before?”
The wins?
A now firmly locked in new habit, and I’m loving it.
There is such incredible power in getting your thoughts, dreams and goals out of your head and onto paper. It is often the first step to making them real. It has created an examination of things that hold me back. And that … is huge. Sometimes you have to get out of your own way before you can create meaningful change in your life!
