Real Self-Care: Wake Gently

This post is part of a month-long series on Real Self-Care for world-changers. It’s about the experimentation: figuring out what works for you and following your heart. Simple, messy and everything in between. Self-care should be custom, intuitive, feasible and kind – to serve your actual life.

Wake Gently

My mornings are sacred. I try my very best not to fling myself head-long into my day before I’ve even gotten out of bed. Most mornings, I spend a few minutes in bed, hanging out with the cats. I have quiet conversation over coffee with my husband: we talk about our dreams, how we slept, what’s coming up in our day…

I move my body a little, I take a hot shower to wake up my muscles. I intentionally do not aim for productivity right away. I like to get out of my pjs, but I’m not aiming for perfection or accomplishment or all-systems-go right away.

I’ll browse through Pinterest or Instagram–low-impact social media, where things are beautiful and gentle.

Now I know that not everyone has this pleasure: there are kids or parents or early-morning jobs or something. But I invite you to explore how you might greet the day more gently. Imagine how it might feel to wake with greater intention and less harried-ness.

It might mean waking earlier, going to sleep earlier, or simply leaving your cellphone away from the bedroom. I also like a sun lamp in the winter, to bring more light into my mornings. In the summer, I enjoy a sunlamp to counteract the blue glow of my laptop.

But I believe that gentler mornings are possible–and that they’re powerful.