For my entire twenties, mornings went something like this: Open my eyes to the blaring alarm clock. Groan, slam the snooze button until it blared again. Slam…express some colourful words, try to open my eyes while trying to unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth. Drag myself to the kitchen. Turn on the tap and begin to chug water. Sit down on the couch and try to steady myself, perhaps go over details of the night before if my cobweb-filled brain would allow it. Smoke a cigarette. From there, it was a mishmash of showering, putting myself together, finding clothes to wear and getting myself out the door and to my office without appearing to be anything but “normal”.
Just another morning.
But it wasn’t normal! Not even close. I was hiding my addiction and I was hiding from life. I was so stuck in this spiral that I knew it was going to take something BIG to get me off the roller coaster of my life. My rock bottom was the salvation I needed. I will never regret that day; rather, I acknowledge it as the greatest gift I have ever received.
For anyone struggling with addiction, or with mornings like mine, I want you to know that you are not alone. There is help. There is hope. There is community. And there is a better way. We encourage you to find YOUR way by visiting Sobriety Starts HERE and checking out how others have done it. That link is to Jolene Park’s interview. I first saw Jolene’s work in her TEDx Talk on grey area drinking. If you aren’t sure if you have a problem, her work may help you.
I’ve come a long way since those alarm-clock-slamming-water-chugging mornings, and, now, my “normal” looks a whole lot different. These days, I wake up without an alarm. As soon as I open my eyes, I say a prayer, and that prayer is, simply, “Thank you” (Thanks, Oprah!). I highly encourage you to try it. It sets the tone for the day beautifully.
I stretch for a few moments in bed and then I get up and head to the kitchen where I turn on the kettle to prepare warm lemon water. As I sip on my water, I prepare my morning protein smoothie (protein is a powerhouse in warding off sugar–and alcohol–cravings later in in the day. I LOVE me a good life hack! My preferred source of protein in my smoothie is either hemp hearts or organic Greek yogurt). While enjoying my smoothie, I head to my office and check emails. Once I finish my smoothie, I head to the gym and get a workout in (when I’m super busy, I just do a home workout) and then I get showered and prepare for the rest of the day.
Instead of being utterly chaotic and awful, my mornings now include:
Gratitude
Hydrating
Fueling
Moving
Powering up my mornings has changed EVERYTHING for me and I encourage you to take a look at how mornings go for you now and see if there are areas you can tweak.
Do you stay up too late and find it hard to wake up in the morning? Try a new bedtime routine that gets you sleeping earlier so that you can wake up refreshed.
Never know what you are going to wear and spend waaaay too long in front of the closet and not on breakfast or exercise or meditation? Try setting your clothes out the night before, so it’s a no-brainer.
Do you sleep so late that you have to skip breakfast? Try preparing things the night before so they are grab-and-go. I am a fan of easy egg muffins or my turkey breakfast sausages or a portable smoothie when I am short on time. Eating breakfast, especially one that includes protein, will help you feel energized, satisfied and it will help you to be more productive at work because you are giving your brain and your body what it needs…fuel!
Do you drink alcohol or take drugs? Do you smoke? Drink too much caffeine? All of these chemicals can mean that mornings are less about proactively giving your body what it needs and more about reacting to how it feels (Feeling tired? We feed our bodies coffee and carbs instead of getting to bed earlier and hydrating with water and healthy food…if we smoke, we smoke breakfast cigarettes instead of eating food…)
Powering up in the morning means we set the tone for the entire day. This doesn’t mean every day will be perfect, but by starting on the right foot, this new practice could be the difference between hating mornings and actually looking forward to them!
Because I want you to love your life one bite at a time.
P.S. Want more tips to live a healthy lifestyle? Then I hope you’ll sign up to my 14 Days of Wellness! Simply enter your name and email address to begin receiving positive daily intentions around your mental and physical health. It’s FREE, with no diets, products, challenges or catches…just a chance to remember how amazing your brain–and body is–for 14 days.
P.P.S. Speaking of brains and bodies, on April 21 & 22, 2018, Roger and I, along with our team, are hosting The Healthy Brain and Body Show in Ottawa at The EY Centre for a second year. We are so excited to be bringing this show back even bigger and better! We would love to see you there as an attendee, where we have so much we want to share with you. We can’t wait to explore, connect, learn and shop at the show WITH you! Please say hello if you come. Roger and I will both be there the entire weekend. It would be a thrill to meet you. 🙂
We can’t WAIT to serve you, so remember to save the date! AND check out the Facebook event page to win SHOW BUCKS (fun money to spend AT the show!)
P.P.P.S. Let’s be friends! I’d love to connect on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram. Plus, if you haven’t already subscribed to my blog, you should! That way, you won’t miss anything. Plus, as a thank you for joining, you will receive my 14 Days of Wellness. https://sarahtalksfood.com/
Leave A Response