One of the motivators for me to buy the morning journal was that I had my 55th birthday at the end of December, and I felt like I needed to get out of my complacency rut and get back into the swing of an actual routine. Actually, my biggest challenge is not waking up; in fact, it is insomnia! As an empty-nester with my husband snoring away next to me every night, it was even more of a challenge to get to sleep. I was going to bed in the middle of the night and still wide awake having spent hours trying to unwind by streaming show after show. It made me lethargic and apathetic in the morning. I started ignoring most of my personal needs like exercising and caring about my health and how poor sleeping habits were contributing to the way I looked in general. When I bought the journal and started using it at the beginning of the year, it made me consciously address my bad habits. I was forced to think about the things I was doing beginning from the night before, which was the greatest contributing factor to my overall problems. When I wrote down my bedtime and initially had to tell myself that I needed to remove distractions from my life like my IPad and watching it until all hours, I developed a nightly ritual of meditation and podcasts dedicated to helping me sleep. I especially like the one called, Nothing much happens; bedtime stories for grown-ups by CuriousCast. The narrator's soothing voice and stories that are geared toward helping an active mind to rest were just what I needed to help me sleep right on schedule.
Now, after using the journal for nearly two months, my evening ritual has made my mornings fuller and I have more energy to begin my day! It has also changed my eating habits since I have fit my exercise routine into my mornings at least four times a week, so I make sure I am eating foods that will give me the fuel I need to keep that part of my morning ritual going! I might not be a spring chicken anymore, but the morning journal has given me a new lease on life, and it has made me feel younger than I have in a very long time simply because I have consciously worked on a healthy evening-to-morning routine!