Good morning!
I’ve always loved (loved!!) mornings, but since entering motherhood a few years ago, I think I’ve really embraced them on a new level.
(Psst: I share these “Ask Kelsey” posts based on topics that seem to pop up in my DMs on instagram as regular questions. This is one that you asked me about! I’ve also shared about things like my hormonal acne journey and transitioning from one to two kids and my career as a violinist.)
Today is all about early mornings. I absolutely loooove the first few hours of the day! I literally fall asleep at night feeling excited for the alarm going off in the morning.
It’s a little weird, but also…I’ll explain.
So, I’ve always woken up pretty early. Starting in high school (and then college) I had to wake up really early for morning swim practice. The start time changed, but the first number on my alarm clock was always a “5.”
And, looking back, I’d say that I didn’t really like getting up early at that age. In fact, I kind of hated waking up on a cold dark morning and jumping in a swimming pool for a workout. Brutal!
But when my competitive swimming journey ended after college, I found myself still waking up early! I always found something to do in those early hours (training for a marathon or practicing my violin or, later, working on building my blog.)
What I found, eventually, is that I LOVE the early morning hours…I just have to be doing something I love.
Duh. Seems pretty obvious. It just took me about a decade to figure that out.
I do not love waking up early and immediately jumping into a cold, dark swimming pool. I don’t love waking up and talking to people. Ha.
But I doooo love these things in my early morning hours:
– cozy workouts, like barre studios with dim lighting, or my Peloton that’s upstairs my warm, climate-controlled house.
– waking up, making a cup of hot black coffee, and getting some tasks done at my desk
– starting my day with a meditation or a few minutes of gratitude journaling
As I’ve found certain things that make my life a lot richer, I find that I’m more and more excited to wake up in the early morning hours to get these things done.
I always remember witnessing my own two parents do their early morning workouts when I was really young. They would alternate days, and one of them at a time would wake up at 4:15 am and head out to a Dallas Masters swim workout.
As a kid, I was flabbergasted that my parents would want to wake up in the 4:00 am hour to go do a swim workout. WHY???
My mom would tell me that she looked forward to the workout! And then she was able to take a shower and dry her hair and put on makeup in a luxurious locker room with a coffee/couch lounge and the morning news on every day. She’d do a morning quiet time and then make it back home by the time we were all waking up at 7:30.
Now that I’m a mom, OH MY GOSH I GET IT!! A workout, a chance to take a shower without a toddler wandering in to the start talking to me, a chance to fix my hair/do my makeup, AND a few minutes of quiet time/coffee to get my head on straight for the day? That’s worth any wakeup time.
So that’s why I love mornings at this point. I love the quiet house, the chance to drink my coffee and get my brain caffeinated before the babies are awake. I love getting my workout out of the way. I loooove starting my morning by prioritizing myself.
That’s why I’m a morning person.
PS: another Ask Kelsey: how I chose my kids names.
