The Miracle Morning: Day 5

You know when you start a new routine, and then you do something to get you out of that routine? Like, stay up too late, change location or just succumb to general stress? Well, Friday morning I fell off the bandwagon, friends. I mean, I took a flying leap off that sucker and didn't even try to get back on for a hot minute. Otherwise known as five. whole. days. 

Oops.

However, I know that it takes more than four days for a new ritual to become a habit, and I gave myself grace because quarantine. And work.  And a lack of leadership in our local and national government that is keeping me up at night. I have to remember that although this is a new season in my work life, the stress of COVID and lack of decision-making of government authorities is still creating an environment that is extremely atypical for the start of the school year. While typical training and back-to-school procedures still have to happen, they are doing so intermingled with new timelines, new digital structures and a whole lot more community dialogue than is navigated in a common July. The new normal is pretty uncommon and I have to remember that it's okay to be a human among the mess.

Today, despite another night of poor sleep, I did manage to rally. Here is a brief summation of the morning's events:

Although I woke up before my alarm, I had a rough time peeling the layers of sleep from my eyes. I rolled over and read two chapters from Proverbs. The straight and narrow logic put me in a good mindset for the day. Be good to one another. Be kind. We have two ears for listening and one tongue for talking. Got it. Listen more, say less. After denying my husband breakfast claiming that no one wants dried up or overly gooey eggs to start the day, I settled into S.A.V.E.R.S. in my newly designed home office (a.k.a. with my same desk that I rotated 120 degrees because that is apparently my new low-level coping mechanism for working from home) and prepared to put in the good work.

Silence was golden for me this morning. I am finding that I can quickly fall into a meditative state with my Abide app and it is probably one of the most beneficial aspects of the Miracle Morning for me thus far. Today's message was on mercy, and the difference between grace (getting something we don't deserve) and mercy (not getting something we do deserve, such as receiving a lesser punishment or consequence for our actions). How can I have mercy on those around me today? Who might need forgiveness? Who do I need to love extra hard? 

I said my affirmations and I feel like I am starting to believe them, because my visualizations this morning were becoming crystal clear. I think it helps that there will be some in-person aspects of principaling this next week and I can see myself there greeting my new teachers and kicking off the new year with enthusiasm regarding the good work to be done. It's also my husband's birthday tomorrow, and I can see all of the ways we will celebrate his milestone birthday, even here in quarantine.

My Fitbit needed a little reboot this morning, so I changed up my exercise routine. Today I just did a quick rotation of push-ups and various crunches, rotating through the cycle twice. Then, I ended my time in a butterfly pose to set my intentions for the day and really stretch out my hips. Today will be a lot of sitting in meetings so I need to be good to my body this morning. Done and done!

Since my Fitbit was updating, I couldn't snag a quick read on my phone this morning, so I decided to open up a book by Elaine McEwan titled 10 Traits of Highly Effective Principals. I need to feel effective right now, and Chapter 1 is on communication - right up my alley. I gleaned a few great ideas in just a few short pages and called it a day. Inspired already and it was only just after 7 AM.

And now,we scribe.

I don't know what the day holds, but I do know that I am going into it stronger than I started, and I haven't even communicated with anyone other than a mild discussion about dry eggs. I think we can do this, gang. One step at a time, just doing the next right thing.