1. Q: How many years young are you and what is your living situation?
1. 60. I live with my husband and have 2 children away at college. The kids return for breaks.
2. Q: What's the biggest challenge you faced in changing your morning routine? How have you dealt with it/got over it/are still dealing with it?
2. My biggest challenge has been to stay laser focused during my morning routine. For me that has required two things. First, no phone until my morning routine is complete. Second, I’m easily distracted or sidetracked. After a lot of trial and error, I figured out to carry a notebook with me while I do my morning routine. When I want to get sidetracked, I jot down a note and take care of it later. For example, today I remembered that I needed to order something online. Instead of stopping my morning routine to do it, I jotted down a note. (In my previously life, I would have dropped everything and done it immediately). I also wanted to rate the journal on Amazon, another note. If I don’t stay laser focused, my morning routine can take all day.
3. Q: What time did you wake up and go to sleep before you started using the Morning Sidekick Journal, and what time do you wake up and sleep now?
3. I didn’t have a regular go to bed or get up time before. I usually stayed up until 2 or 3 am and I am ashamed to say that sometimes I wouldn’t wake up until late afternoon. Now I go to bed at 11 pm and get up at 7 am even on weekends.
4. Q: What did your mornings look like before you started using the Morning Sidekick Journal? What do your mornings look like now?
4. My mornings before. Snooze the alarm (set for 11 am) for an hour. Drink diet pepsi and play on my phone forever. Berate myself for being useless and not getting out of bed. I would do this until I felt so bad I would go back to sleep. 75% of the time my husband would come home from work and I would still be in bed.
This is what my morning looks like now: 7 am get up when alarm goes off
Energize: Water, 25 jumping jacks, stretches, 30 sec smile in mirror
Nourish: Breakfast with husband, gratitude journal, 15 min meditation
Groom: Shower
Home: Make bed, start laundry, roomba
Day: Plan day
MIT
5. Q: In one sentence, what's your favorite thing about the Morning Sidekick Journal?
5. Daily advice page with quote.
6. Q: How long have you been using the Morning Sidekick Journal?
6. 66 days. On to Mastering my mornings (but I would like a part 2 of the morning journal much better!)
7. Q: How has using the Morning Sidekick Journal and doing your morning routine impacted your life overall?
7. Sometimes everything comes together in the universe at just the right time. I saw an ad for this journal and just “knew” I needed it. The day it arrived was perfectly timed. Several weeks prior, my husband asked me to join him for a big dinner being hosted by a non-profit board he is a member of. I couldn’t get out of bed that day and was desperately searching for an excuse to skip another one of these events. The journal arrived around noon, I read the getting started section and decided to start then and there. Pretending it was the night before, I made a morning routine and got started. I completed 4 of my 5 morning tasks for that day and was dressed and ready to go just in time for my husband to pick me up. That moment is the one I use for my affirmations. I felt powerful and on top of the world.
The momentum for change began that first day and hasn’t stopped. I have a mental health illness but I am no longer a victim of that illness. I have a healthy morning routine now which leads me into a day of doing proper self-care so that I can manage my symptoms. I knew what I needed to do before, I didn’t know HOW to do it. The Morning Sidekick Journal showed me how to get up and get started.