I have gradually come to this ritual as I, like you, have more reliably honored my body’s announcement at the end of the day: bedtime!
A vital activity is my daily participation in several audio-text and text convos that have enriched my life beyond measure (I highly recommend trying audio-texting. Unlike IRL face2face convos, there are no lost threads, allows revisiting to amplify subjects superficially covered, and replaying audio-texts usually reveals —- OMG I didn’t hear that first time, and much less time — AND no need to respell & battle spellchecker!
But to answer your question, most of the time there isn’t enough awake time to adequately respond to friend’s inquiries… or I just can’t write a response that is “just right”.
So I sleep on the “open threads” … having learned to always write the responses that are the gift of the morning … and gifts they are. My best writing (which is really just transcribing what the Universe downloads… hoping you know the joy of participating in that flow!) seems to have a space to easily flow upon waking, before my brain starts focusing on what the world demands of me to survive.
I really appreciate what you have to say here, Randolph. Not everyone will be a so-called morning person, but for me, my energy is definitely frontloaded. I tackle my most important work early in the day and that includes prioritizing time to myself. The gift of the morning is a fantastic way to describe the flow of ideas that happen when we make space for it. Thanks again for reading!
Don’t you just dig Substack! Scrolling thru favorites, and bumping into soon-to-be favorites … and inhaling the fragrance of writing that resonates, and invites responding… in some way … I see you, and reading what you wrote brought beauty to my day.
I really, truly do need to adopt this mindset. I've been a night owl my whole life, always going on too little sleep. I also know from experience going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier has been beneficial.
Unfortunately my career has me working in the evenings, so a 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. bedtime seems unattainable. Also, being ADD does not allow my brain to slow down easily, especially after a draining day of teaching. I often do my workouts when I get home, which is also not conducive to an early bedtime haha! The irony is seeing the benefit to going to bed early and waking up early, so I can do my workouts before work.
It sounds like you’re building in healthy habits into your routine. Early mornings wouldn’t be conducive to every lifestyle, particularly shift workers or those who consistently work later in the day, like yourself. As long as you’ve built in time to yourself so you’re not feeling rushed, that’s the key.
I have gradually come to this ritual as I, like you, have more reliably honored my body’s announcement at the end of the day: bedtime!
A vital activity is my daily participation in several audio-text and text convos that have enriched my life beyond measure (I highly recommend trying audio-texting. Unlike IRL face2face convos, there are no lost threads, allows revisiting to amplify subjects superficially covered, and replaying audio-texts usually reveals —- OMG I didn’t hear that first time, and much less time — AND no need to respell & battle spellchecker!
But to answer your question, most of the time there isn’t enough awake time to adequately respond to friend’s inquiries… or I just can’t write a response that is “just right”.
So I sleep on the “open threads” … having learned to always write the responses that are the gift of the morning … and gifts they are. My best writing (which is really just transcribing what the Universe downloads… hoping you know the joy of participating in that flow!) seems to have a space to easily flow upon waking, before my brain starts focusing on what the world demands of me to survive.
I really appreciate what you have to say here, Randolph. Not everyone will be a so-called morning person, but for me, my energy is definitely frontloaded. I tackle my most important work early in the day and that includes prioritizing time to myself. The gift of the morning is a fantastic way to describe the flow of ideas that happen when we make space for it. Thanks again for reading!
Don’t you just dig Substack! Scrolling thru favorites, and bumping into soon-to-be favorites … and inhaling the fragrance of writing that resonates, and invites responding… in some way … I see you, and reading what you wrote brought beauty to my day.
It is an absolute gift!
"We are what we repeatedly do" is powerfully instructive. We forget! This was lovely, thank you Amy.
Thank you so much, Stephanie.
I really, truly do need to adopt this mindset. I've been a night owl my whole life, always going on too little sleep. I also know from experience going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier has been beneficial.
Unfortunately my career has me working in the evenings, so a 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. bedtime seems unattainable. Also, being ADD does not allow my brain to slow down easily, especially after a draining day of teaching. I often do my workouts when I get home, which is also not conducive to an early bedtime haha! The irony is seeing the benefit to going to bed early and waking up early, so I can do my workouts before work.
Alas, the struggle is real.
It sounds like you’re building in healthy habits into your routine. Early mornings wouldn’t be conducive to every lifestyle, particularly shift workers or those who consistently work later in the day, like yourself. As long as you’ve built in time to yourself so you’re not feeling rushed, that’s the key.