An aspirational morning routine

when your body thinks it's 4pm at 4am

One of the things social media has done for us is (falsely) confirm our low-grade fear that everyone else is living a more perfect life. (Everyone else’s) World is beautiful, perfectly lit, and well-produced. The characters in it are full of positive energy and motivation. Take ‘morning routine’ videos, for example. Or a day-in-the-life video. As someone who has produced YouTube videos for almost 10 years, I am also guilty of adding to this illusion.

But now many of us know, a scene of grog-free wake-up and stretching takes at least the following: wake up earlier (or maybe just film it at night), set up the tripod, set up lighting, turn the camera on, get back into bed, fake a new wakeup, check the footage, repeat if necessary. The end result is visually appealing and maybe just meant to convey an idea… that it can be done, fake it til you make it, aspirational even for the actor herself.

I share all this to say I’m just so glad there is a lot less of that here on Substack. There is much less of that hyperproduced aesthetic goals to live up to. It’s just me, and though the things I write about may still be aspirational (for myself), at least it’s real.

Since returning from Korea, followed by a super short trip to Brazil immediately after for a conference, I’ve been super jet-lagged. My internal clock is all over the place. But one good thing is that I am now a morning person! Yes, this may all be very temporary. But maybe not? Being an emergency medicine physician, a regular daily rhythm is incredibly hard to achieve. But in the past, regardless of that fact, I’ve always settled into a routine that led me to stay up late and wake up late (as late as my toddler would let me, anyway). Maybe it’s just my “internal clock,” but if I can settle into being a night owl, I think with a little bit of effort, I can settle into being a natural morning person, too.

Why the morning, you ask? Is it inherently better to be a morning person than a night person? I think that probably just depends on how you spend that extra time. For me, being a morning person means I can get a little bit of work done, make my toddler’s breakfast and lunch, and have a little bit of time to check over my schedule for the day. I’ve also incorporated a short time for prayer and reading the Bible into the mix. This is in contrast to how I typically spend my late nights. Unless forced to do work by a deadline, I usually spend it watching TV, scrolling on my phone, or online shopping. Not that any of those things are “bad”, but those activities don’t always refresh my soul the way I expect it to… For some reason, at the end of a long day, it feels harder to engage in reflective activities and I end up choosing more passive, hedonistic options.

Who knows how long this morning phase will last? But I’ve been enjoying it so much I wanted to record it somewhere. Not for it to be aspirational for anybody (maybe just for myself) but just to remember and share that this feels good. So without further ado, here’s my current morning routine: