Casual question inspired by a friend’s more formal survey: What’s your morning routine, and how much time do you like to take before you have to head out into the world? Why?
My answer: A defining character trait of mine is that I really, *really* don’t like to be rushed. Nowhere is this more evident than in my morning routine. Ideally, I will get out of bed at least 4 hours before I have to leave to go anywhere, so that I have 3 hours to work (I absolutely do my best work in the morning), feed/care for the pets, eat a little food, browse my social media platforms, write, contemplate life, daydream, pad around the house doing small chores, etc., and then 1 hour to leisurely get ready to go outside and face the world. That hour generally includes showering, brushing my teeth, skin care, drying my hair, and getting dressed with ample time built in for getting distracted by stuff on my phone and petting the cats.
I *can* get ready to go out much faster, but I really don’t like to. I build all this time into my morning so that when I do go out into the world, I feel calm, happy, and ready for human contact. I can do this on 3 hours with little to no ill effect. 2.5 hours is mostly okay. Less than that really starts to strain my calm. If I wake up late or find myself having to get ready in a hurry for some reason, it usually affects my state of mind for the entire day, so I really try to avoid those situations.
How about you?