Happy Monday friends!! I hope your Monday has gone well — if it hasn’t, tomorrow is a new day and in just 6 days, you get another Monday to give it a shot! You got this!
But, Monday, sigh, ugh… maybe it was the time change (really, you still want me to get up when it’s still dark out? Luna definitely wasn’t a fan…) I have noticed that recently I’ve been waking up on Monday morning with a feeling of overwhelm – the kind of overwhelm where you feel defeated before you even begin because how could you possibly tackle all those things and you know that you’ll have to wait at that appointment and you know that meeting will definitely go over and there’s no way that making that return will go smoothly and for sure my husband will forget to pick up the kids and and and… Anyone? Is it just me that has a crazy voice (I call her Karen, my sincerest apologies to all of the wonderful amazing Karens in the world, I send you love) living in her head?! I’m going to guess no… I’m going to guess I’m not the only one who has the wild anxiety monologue in her head that you KNOW is crazy and yet she just keeps going on and on…
The worst part? You made her. Not like you sat down and planned it out and gave her a face and a name and some cute clothes.. Nope. You have developed her over years. Practiced and refined the type of language she uses to freak you out. The beauty of this is you can quiet her. You can reason with her. You can tell her to sit down and shut her mouth (and maybe you’ll use some more colorful language — my favorite is Ludarcis “Get Back” – I’ll let you listen or google it… definitely not safe for little ears or at work!) So, let me tell you how I kindly asked Karen to get back in her chair and keep her thoughts to herself this morning.
I got up. I’m not quiet at the 5-4-3-2-1 yet (al a Mel Robbins, thank you for this amazing tool), but I give myself a little time in bed to read or let’s be honest, scroll my phone (a habit that I’d like to break, but one thing at a time.) I’m sure many experts say it’s counterintuitive or not productive or squishes my creativity, but taking my mind off my life for a few minutes in the morning really helps me. I also drink my tea — it’s not really tea I guess — hot water with apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and honey. I’ve been having this almost every morning for about 2 years now and I really like it. I started it for some immune boosting, appetite suppressing reasons after 100 billion internet searches. My personal experience is that it helps me feel awake in the morning, I feel overall more stable (my digestion, my lymphatic system, etc) and I tell myself it’s keeping away lots of germs.
After the little time, I get up. Right now that’s at 7am. I don’t let the dog keep me in bed to cuddle, I’ve had my 30ish minutes of not getting up, so now it’s time to get the day started. I do my morning readings (a couple devotionals) and my Start Today journal (see Rachel Hollis and/or Start Today — I’ll write about it more soon!). I feed the pets (so many pets…and they all get their own little morning breakfast thing…). I change and I get in my workout. Well, I get in my workout if it’s a run day. I find that run days I prefer to do in the morning — if it’s a strength/walk/yoga day it usually happens later in the day as a way to break up the day and give me some energy to tackle the rest of the day. Then it’s breakfast, filling out my planner, and time to get ready for the rest of the day (shower, change, etc.)
I try to keep this schedule or close to it most days. Today I knew I needed to go to the grocery store (Side note: I do not take it for granted that I can go to the grocery store at 9am on a Monday morning when NO ONE is there. I love grocery shopping – yes, I know it’s odd, but I still love a nearly empty store) and the post office, so those were my first tasks on the day (instead of the run.)
Having a morning routine doesn’t allow me the wiggle room to talk myself out of getting up and doing the things that I know help keep me grounded throughout the day. No matter what the day brings, I have found that if I can at least accomplish those tasks for me, I feel calmer and more able to tackle the challenges the day can bring. I find this especially important on Mondays (start the week strong!) and when traveling. Travel morning routine is typically adjusted, but I do the best I can (more on this when I travel next!)
Which circles us back to why I think I have been feeling so stressed out on Monday mornings. This distinct feeling is new for me and I was trying to figure out why — I don’t have a job to go to, even my husbands work schedule right now is not a Monday to Friday type, so why stress about a Monday?? It’s because I chart out my week on Sunday. I like to look ahead at the week, plan out meals – dinner, what do we need for breakfast, will lunch be leftovers or am I making something; I figure out my workouts for the week (sometimes this requires coordinating with Chris on who is taking the dog out); I look at any events we have (appointments, meetings, webinars, conference calls, 5ks); we figure out our date for the week (or at least a time when we know our schedules align to have dinner together or watch a show… yes, every week); in essence, I kind of fill up what my days will look like (I’ll do a post on planning my week more if that’s of interest…) The point I’m slowly getting to here is that I look at all I will accomplish that week and sometimes it takes my breath away a bit! So when I wake up Monday morning — a fresh week… with so many things to fill it! Yikes!
I don’t plan to change this habit – I like it – I think it is good for me. I just can’t let the negative side, the overwhelm, get in my way. I have found that planning out the week doesn’t allow for me to spend too many hours watching Netflix, I have less last minute panics when there is a deadline, and Chris and I are more on the same page about what is a priority (workouts for example) and when they will be accomplished. I have also found that it allows me to know when something can be flexible (sure I can get lunch Friday instead of Wednesday) or not (I can’t move my meeting, so that won’t work for me.)
So yes, Mondays can be blah, they can last forever, they can be full and busy and back to the grind. I have helped myself get through this, with a smile, by focusing on all the great things I am accomplishing, by remembering that getting started is sometimes the hardest part, and giving myself some grace when I scroll Instagram for 20 minutes before I get out of bed.
I hope this is helpful if you are finding Monday to be a tough day to get going. Let me know your thoughts. Are you a Monday dreader? Do you have a weekly or morning routine that helps? What gets you through a Monday??
xoxo, Gretchen