Hey there! In part 1 of Why Am I So Tired I talked about what I do to have a healthy bedtime routine. Today let's talk about mornings
Uggggggg, I hate mornings! I used to be a morning person my whole life, but once I started using ADHD medication (which I LOVE) I realized that getting going in the mornings was hard until my medication kicked in. Nowwe could go on, and on, and on, and on, and-ON about AHDH medication alternatives, but I don't feel like getting into that today, so I won't! Today I want to get into what I can do from 6:30-9:30 when I feel like a zombie.
In one of my previous posts titled, "Daily Routines," I talked about what my ideal morning routine would look like: wake up, affirmations, day planning, brush teeth, shower, get dressed, wake the kids up, breakfast, take kids to school, walk dogs, 7 minute workout, dishes, vacuum, laundry, work. This is the routine I strive to do everyday. Please let me be clear: this is my ideal, but some days it is far from reality. For those with ADHD like me, or similar neuro-divergences, you know that when you wake up in the morning your brain has been rebooted and it is up to you to open the tabs or apps in your brain for you to act on.
Let me break this down if this analogy doesn't resonate with you:
When I wake up in the morning all I want to do is continue sleeping or staying in bed. I have to open the tab/app in my brain that says, "get up," then I have to choose to open the tab/app "get dressed," then I have to choose to open the tab/app "wake the kids up." I have to choose to do these things when all I want to do is open the tab/app, "go back to sleep, sleeping is good for the body and brain." Obviously when school and work need to happen following the "go back to sleep" tab/app is no, no, bad, bad. I would love to say that as soon as my alarm goes off I pop up singing happy tunes with birds dancing around me like Snow White....but...yeah...that doesn't happen. I have to actually choose, nothing is easy, nothing is autopilot unless I choose to activate the autopilot.
Now, let's loop that back to my 6:30-9:30 zombie. The more I practice my perfect morning routine, the easier it gets as my brain is forming new neural pathways. My brain's neural pathways previously were formed in a way that i needed during my recovery period. I have recovered and now new neural pathways need to be formed so I can live the life I want. It is hard forming new neural pathways, because it's like building a new freeway in your brain. When you are driving on a freeway that is under construction is it frustrating? Is it time consuming? Do you feel like maybe you shouldn't have gone this way even though you know that no other routes will get you to where you need to go? Do you feel like giving up and turning around at the nearest exit?
There will be times in forming new routines, habits and therefore neural pathways that you will fall off the wagon into old habits and routines. The point isn't that you fell off, the point is will you get back on? Do you have the guts and grit to keep trying? To be the person you want to be despite all the currently formed neural pathways telling you old habits are easier?
In my 6:30-9:30 zombie like state I know that waking up at my first alarm, doing my affirmations, getting dressed and brushing my teeth, waking the kids up and getting them to school on time or even early is going to be hard, hard, hard. I know that after the kids are at school all I want to do is fall right back into bed, but I also know that forming these new neural pathways are hard, hard, hard, but worth it, worth it, worth it! They are things I have to do, so I might as well do my best to stick to the routine, and as I do it gets easier, easier, easier!
Let's talk about fuel now. Let's continue the analogy of driving on a freeway. What happens if you run out of gas? What happens if you put the wrong fuel in your car? What if you are driving a motorcycle and a rainstorm hits? The fuel we put into our vehicles is important, the type of vehicle we drive for the type of life we want is important. In the past when I was going through the worst time of my life I felt like I was driving an electric scooter on a freeway during monsoon season, with a hurricane raging and earthquakes were happening. I was at my most emotional low, and as an emotional eater I was only providing my body with weak electric scooter energy rather that a fully suped up weather mobile with all that cool gadgets and stabilizers. I was eating junk, pure processed junk, or nothing at all. How many of you aren't emotional eaters, but emotional starvers, you don't feel hunger at all and eating makes you nauseous?
The fuel we provide ourselves with is fundamentally important. Drink enough water, eat dark greens every meal, eat wild fish with omega 3's, eat nuts, seeds and berries. I have a really tough time with this and constantly fall off the wagon when trying to develop this neural pathway. It's like that road by your home town that's been under construction for the last 20 years, that's me and eating well. However, I keep up trying and failing, because it's better to try and fail then to not try at all!
When I'm trying I'll drink a glass of water first thing in the morning. This is easy for me since I have to take my medication anyway. I'm not a huge breakfast food person for breakfast for some reason, I like breakfast food at dinner time and dinner food for breakfast. One of my wonderful little quirks! So, for breakfast I will usually have leftovers. For a long time I was a smoothy person, but I got bored of it, so now I cook with a lot of veggies snuck into the recipes. I absolutely loathe fish, so I take a fish oil supplement. I don't like taking the big horse pill fish oils so i actually get the children's ones and take them every few hours a day. I also got so sick of taking supplements when I first got diagnosed with hasimoto's disease that now I wear vitamin skin patches and vitamin lotions. I think they work great and when I get around to it I'll post my favorite ones.
All of these things help me have a less zombie like morning before my ADHD meds kick in, but just to wrap it up in a nice bow, let me list them:
- - No screen time in the mornings (I even cut this out for my kids)
- - get up out of bed on the first alarm and get dressed & brush teeth right away.
- - drink a whole glass of water.
- - affirmations.
- - wake kids up and get them dressed, etc.
- - we all have healthy breakfasts that include vegetables, I have dinner leftovers.
- - supplements: oral or skin.
- - get out in the sun and walk the dogs, or if I'm feeling particularly Meh I go without the dogs because I don't want to deal with them.
- - resist the temptation of the screen and force myself to do the dishes, laundry, vacuuming.
- - Do some work.
- - take a break before the kids get home from school.
This is my morning, break through the meh, routine. Please comment below on your routine and let'shelp the community out by giving us more ideas on what may work for our brains! And since I didn't say it before, I'll say it now, put your damn phone down! Hehe, love ya!