I'd felt it as soon as I woke up. The snow outside made things warm and cozy rather than dark and dreary, but I was still in a hurry.
There are days where you wake up rested and ready to kick some ass, and there are days when you wake up rested but completely unmotivated. And, there are those other kind of days where you're undoubtedly motivated, but oh-so-tired and bleary.
That was me today.
That's actually been the case a lot lately.
The perfect time to make your dog some scrambled eggs is when you're running late, right? Ava's energy is back to normal. Her stomach seems to be as well, but I wanted to make sure it stayed that way even though I was late. Which, felt silly since it'd been a self-imposed deadline that I was late for. While preheating the pan, I'd even opened my laptop to update my calendar. And I also jotted down the first few big things I needed to do for the day in my pocket notebook. I love that thing. It's a refillable leather journal that Isobel made me last Christmas after watching me scribbling everywhere I went.
With Ava eating, I still needed to feed myself. Sometimes I forget to eat breakfast, so I started leaving bananas by the coffee maker because I never forget to make coffee. I've been giving myself shit for forgetting stuff my entire life. And being late. My dad used to say I'd forget my head if it weren't attached to my body. When I was a kid, I left my backpack at his house with my homework in it more than once. Same with my saxophone. To his credit, he'd drive the hour each way to get whatever it was back to me.
Giving myself a pace to hit probably comes from being a runner, but the shame of not hitting it definitely comes from growing up neurodivergent. Learning to set myself up for success has been a lifelong game. The problem is that I keep outsmarting me, so the game never ends.
What do you do to set yourself up for success in the morning? What dominos do you knock over to start building momentum for the day?
onward.
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