Bad Morning routine

[thejuice]

Anyone find their morning routine is terrible? I have a coffee and sit up in bed on my phone for an hour. By the end of this, I have no motivation to do anything and feel jaded! My chronic pain is worse in the morning so I feel it's a way to avoid that. Sometimes I think I need a morning shock treatment!

 

[AprilR]

I have the same routine, i need at least a hour with a coffee before even having breakfast.

Can you set up a timer for "waking up" after waking up maybe?

 

[Masked Man]

My morning routine is very similar actually. Usually I am up about 2 hours before I have to leave for work just to allow myself 1 solid hour of sitting, drinking coffee, and scrolling. Although I don't have a problem knowing when I have to stop and get up and get going. Maybe you can set an alarm of sorts and when the hour is up then you know you have to get going.

 

[Tiffany Kate]

Sounds like my Saturday routine. Get up, then "slow coffee" for at least a couple of hours before getting on with the day. When I was doing one particular job that involved long hours, "slow coffee" was very slow indeed and Saturday didn't really start until 2pm.

Nowadays, I find it helps to have a cut-off time at which I have to stop sitting and drinking coffee, and I have to start doing something useful.

 

[Rodafina]

By the end of this, I have no motivation to do anything and feel jaded!

@thejuice
Do you think you can pinpoint what makes you lose motivation and feel jaded? Could it be the content of what you are looking at? Or maybe by the end of the coffee and phone time, you are hungry or dehydrated?

Is there anything in particular that helps your chronic pain that could be your first task of the day?

 

[Kitsuna]

I’m like this, kind of. I make the mistake of getting up at just the right amount of time I need to get ready for work because I’m too lazy to get up before that, but I really want to chill with a couple cups of coffee and check my phone for a while too. I’m thinking of going the same route as Masked Man and get up earlier.

 

[Boogs]

Sans coffee, strong and plenty of it, I'm best avoid for the first couple hours of the day.

I have a coffee and sit up in bed on my phone for an hour.

If you don't mind me asking, but what are you doing on your phone? I'm guessing it's not just talking with someone. Would it be worth trying something different from your phone to go with the coffee for a week and see if the phone's not helping?

 

[Baiwuxiang]

Anyone find their morning routine is terrible? I have a coffee and sit up in bed on my phone for an hour. By the end of this, I have no motivation to do anything and feel jaded! My chronic pain is worse in the morning so I feel it's a way to avoid that. Sometimes I think I need a morning shock treatment!

SAME! Bring on the shock treatment! Motivation isn’t easy, especially when you’re in pain. This has pretty much been my morning routine for the last couple of weeks. I’m in the middle of a flare-up, and for some reason, the pain tends to get a bit better after 11 p.m. But I can’t do much in case I wake up my housemates. XD
The struggle is real.

 

[thejuice]

Sans coffee, strong and plenty of it, I'm best avoid for the first couple hours of the day.

If you don't mind me asking, but what are you doing on your phone? I'm guessing it's not just talking with someone. Would it be worth trying something different from your phone to go with the coffee for a week and see if the phone's not helping?

Phone is usually social media stuff. Nothing taxing. Need a safe to lock my phone in but then id know the passcode lol

 

[thejuice]

@thejuice
Do you think you can pinpoint what makes you lose motivation and feel jaded? Could it be the content of what you are looking at? Or maybe by the end of the coffee and phone time, you are hungry or dehydrated?

Is there anything in particular that helps your chronic pain that could be your first task of the day?

Medication means I'm never too sure how hydrated I am, as I'm always thirsty. It's social media that's draining I think.

 

[thejuice]

Can you set up a timer for "waking up" after waking up maybe?

I like that idea

 

[thejuice]

I was reading a book about fatigue which said Churchill worked from bed lol. Maybe I can do that, if I fire my phone into the sun. It's tough as it's my only source of connection most days but it's also toxic and unsatisfactory

 

[thejuice]

Just done my morning coffee and social media. I'm mentally frozen and the thought of changing gears and getting in the shower is extremely hard

 

[Boogs]

Phone is usually social media stuff. Nothing taxing. Need a safe to lock my phone in but then id know the passcode lol

I only ask as for some people, some types of social media may not be the best thing for reaching a better state of mind (and body)? And the harder it is to not use it, possibly the more effect it could be having without it being obvious?

 

[thejuice]

I only ask as for some people, some types of social media may not be the best thing for reaching a better state of mind (and body)? And the harder it is to not use it, possibly the more effect it could be having without it being obvious?

Definitely. Sometimes I have Twitch on in background and browse the web as well. It's probably information overload

 

[Boogs]

Definitely. Sometimes I have Twitch on in background and browse the web as well. It's probably information overload

I'm sure it's an individual thing when considering individuals (ofc!), but I believe some online services are tending towards toxicity just by their nature - i.e. they promote it, even if indirectly, and the mechanisms they exploit to hook people in are aimed at maximum engagement of the user so as to maximise the possible profits and the psychology employed to exploit this to the maximum degree possible are not, like most extremes, very healthy for many of us (ASD or not).

The side effects are of little concerns to the owners/investors of such systems as long as they don't disturb the bottom line of percentage returns. So the apps are 'sold' as being beneficial for us despite the evidence that in more cases than not they have more downsides than ups (yes, you may well have noticed a minute, teeny tiny bias coming from my direction! Coincidence I assure you! ).

 

[Tiffany Kate]

Phone is usually social media stuff. Nothing taxing. Need a safe to lock my phone in but then id know the passcode lol

I deleted social media apps off my phone (except WhatsApp). No Facebook, no Twitter etc. That means if I want to go on any of them, I have to go via the web browser. It's just a little bit of extra inconvenience that makes it less likely I'll spend hours just scrolling through feeds.

I think you can probably get apps that will "lock" your social media use after a certain time. I know you can for browsers.

People say "it's only willpower", but apparently there's real evidence that you only have so much willpower per day. If you use it up on trying not to do something like scrolling through social media, you don't have any left later for more important things.

 

[Roisin]

My brain needs assistance in the morning, always has done, but it took years to figure out how to make the morning routine feel more peaceful... I'll share my approach for what its worth!!

I leave at 8am to commute to work and I use alarms to help me have a routine that meets my morning needs.
-I found all the "shoulds" really unhelpful in my self talk around morning routines, laden with guilt and self-loathing. The rest of the day will be full of others unreasonable expectations, but the morning is my domain and I need gentle slow kindness, which I am in control of.

My first wake up alarm goes off at 6:50. The next at 655 and the last at 7am
- this future proofs a bad nights sleep, and my tendency to struggle to wake up when I'm tired, it also builds in the option to stay in bed a bit longer if I would like that.

I get up with my cosy dressing gown and slippers on and have two coffee's, scrolling time and gentle slow waking up in my favorite chair til 7:25 when my next alarm goes off giving me 5 minutes to transition to the next stage of the routine.

-Staying in bed never worked for me for my coffee's, even though I love it, I reserve the pleasure for days off, when it doesn't matter if I go back asleep.

7:30 marks the " typical getting out the door" rituals, bathroom, getting dressed etc and my last alarm goes off at 7:50, giving me a 10 minute heads up to check my bag, get my shoes on and prep a coffee for the journey.

-I nearly always prepare my lunch and clothes the night before, eliminating those curve balls that could push me into overwhelm and this leaves my morning chilled out, with as many barriers as possible elimated or mitigated.

Edited to add: Also with this quantity of alarms I sometimes feel like playing Frisbee with my phone!! I think those frustrated feelings are normal, mindfulness helps here to reconnect with the adulting part of me who chose to set them out of self care.