Here’s an example of how the “inactivity before activity” method works.
My whole life I’ve found it very hard to get myself together after waking up in the morning. It doesn’t matter if I sleep 10 hours or 4. It doesn’t matter if I get up at 7 am, 9 or noon. I wake up feeling chewed over and spit out. For an hour or two, I drag myself around feeling like an invalid, and then I’m fine.
It’s not even an age thing. I was exactly like this at 14. But it’s definitely not getting better with age, that’s for sure.
So I came up with a plan. If I get up 40 minutes earlier than usual, go for a run, breathe deep on the veranda while having coffee, and then take a shower, I’d short-circuit the waking up issue, and avoid the problem.
It sounds good but utterly fantastical from my perspective. I feel really shitty in the mornings. If you haven’t experienced it, you wouldn’t get it. My knees shake, I drop things, my head feels like it’s been filled with damp cotton wool. “Get up earlier and run” sounds akin to “sprout wings and fly.”
But I did it. Today is the second day I’m getting up early, running, going on the veranda, the whole thing. It happens easily, as if I’ve always done it. And it works. At 7 am, I feel almost as good as I do at 7 pm. (People like me are at our peak between 7 and 11 pm).
The way I did it was that after making the decision, I didn’t try to get directly into putting it into practice. I would have failed if I had. Instead, I did a lot of silent contemplation. Staring at the crowns of trees really works for me. Looking at the clouds. Observing how the wind moves the flags. I wasn’t thinking about my plan. Or anything specific. I let my mind and body catch up with my rational decision-making process. They did, I felt ready, and the plan worked out easily.
I also didn’t believe the method would work before I tried it. It sounded kooky. But it costs nothing, and I was kind of desperate. I’m stunned at how well it worked.
Clarissa's Blog 
OT: It’s that time of year again!
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And don’t I know it! Ukrainian Twitter was ablaze yesterday. The Croatian entry got a lot of jokes. Switzerland didn’t fare well either. Spain wasn’t even mentioned but that’s Spain. Clinically incapable of getting noticed.
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“Spain wasn’t even mentioned”
That’s because it hasn’t been on yet (it’s consistently been in the top ten though). It will get a short preview on Thursday and then the full performance on Saturday.
My overall favorite this year is…. France. Well constructed song with distinct parts and a sense of momentum leading up to a great bridge with a great high note and the final chorus comes in like fire.
We’ll see how it translates live on Saturday as well.
The singer is actually Quebecois(e?) from a Moroccan immigrant family….
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I am the exact same way in the mornings
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So you can understand. It’s horrid. It drives me to take energy drinks which I know is a bad idea.
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Sounds good! Will have to give it a try.
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I am also horrible in mornings, though not quite as bad as my husband (I have never met someone so inept at mornings, but he gets tons don very late at night when the whole world is sleeping). Getting our daughter off to school is tough.
I once decided it would be a great idea to take a job that started at 5am. 5am! I thought, I’d get so much done and have so much free time because my work day would be done before 2. I was constantly late, half-brain dead during working hours, and useless after work because I needed to nap. It’s a miracle I didn’t get fired and I have since realized I cannot work a job that requires me before 9. Ideally 10 or 11.
Being a parent to young children requires me to be up early in the morning and my morning routine is not what I’d like. I am going to try lying around doing nothing for a few days, staring t the ceiling and see how this works for me. Here’s to hoping.
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