Lots of people use coffee to get them going in the morning.  I was never a coffee drinker, but have finally found something that energizes me first thing in the morning: working on something for me. My inspiration came via my friend Stacey.  She’s a writer, a runner, a wife, and a mom of two adorable kids.  We met at the John C. Campbell Folk School in March.  Upon hearing that our writing teacher gets up at 5:30 each morning to give herself time to write, Stacey decided to do the same thing.  And you know what?  She said on the days she wrote, the whole day went better.

So a few weeks ago I started getting up at 6:30 to work on my organizing business.  When I first awake, I lay in bed just giving myself time to get used to the idea of getting up.  Then, I pull my Simple Abundance book off the nightstand and read today’s passage.  I reflect on it for a spell, and then get up.  I make myself a cup of tea, and sit down to work.  Today’s project was the web site.  I worked on the Services Page.  In the past couple weeks, I’ve used this time to prep for the organizing classes I’ve been teaching, to get my printer working so I could print things for my class, to read organizing books, and to talk with my fabulous web page guru (we had a 7:30 phone call one morning!).

I can say Stacey is right – my days feel so much better when I start them by taking care of myself.  This has been a Monday-Friday thing, but I found that my weekends didn’t have the same spirit about them as my weekdays did, so I’m extending my plan to the weekends.  So yes, I’ll be up at 6:30.  Quietly working away in the stillness of the morning.  Thanks for the inspiration, Stacey:)