Sitting in a cabin in Townsend, Tennessee I am out of my environment. I am a creature of habit, enjoying routine and boredom. I like getting up at the same time every morning and going to bed (in my bed) the same time every night. On what was planned to be a hiking vacation with another couple, Gena and I find ourselves as the only ones in this cozy three-bedroom cabin (thanks to the U.S. Navy). Despite not being at home, I still wake up early. My mind has things it needs to do before being ready for the day. Much like the pull of the ring of power (apologies to Tolkien) I am pulled to a morning ritual. That ritual has become “my precious”.

I find myself slowly entering the day by my usual routine. I woke up a little later than usual and started the coffee. After some devotional and gratitude focus my coffee had gotten to the temperature that makes it much easier to sip. I slowly work on the steaming cup that helps bring me to life while working through my ritual. On most mornings I try to discipline myself to follow a pattern of review to help limit the temptation to delve into social media or follow other random thoughts or ideas.

I normally turn to my calendar and task manager to help me decide how I am to spend my day. I review what I did yesterday and see what I need to tie up. I make some quick journal entry updates before closing out yesterday’s entries. Then I I get to decide what is important for today. Do I have things that must be done? Do I have pressing issues that need blocks of time for completion? Where in the day do I devote time for physical activity, reading, and even down time? When am I going to be sure I have time to sit down with Gena for meaningful discussion? This review usually takes 15-20 minutes before allowing myself some time to browse and follow rabbit hole ideas. 

I start with a quick review of the New York Times to see what is going on in the world, trying to read more than just the headlines. Hurricane Ian dominates the information this morning with updates about its current status, projected course, and recent damage. There are also the expected articles politicizing the damage response and finger-pointing that turn natural disasters into opportunities for the usual mud-slinging for the sake of the party (whichever one that may be).  A quick glance at the Associated Press site helps me be sure to get another source, though many times the information is almost the same.

Next, I move to weather headlines and forecasts for the upcoming days in order to plan my activities. Today I am surprised to see that what had been an expected rainy week in the Smokey Mountains has turned into the anticipation of gorgeous fall weather. Since we came here primarily to hike, we had been watching the weather for several days and had resigned ourselves to the reality that we might spend most of the week indoors, reading and streaming shows. Since we can do that at home, it was not quite the vacation we were expecting. The good news of weather changes excited me and I was able to resume planning out daily hikes and sight-seeing. 

Then comes the move to the sports section. Over the past several years I have reigned in expectations for my two favorite sports teams (Tennessee Volunteers football and St. Louis Cardinals baseball). I am now to the point that I simply check the scores if I did not watch yesterday’s game and skim the rest of the updates. No longer do I pour through Twitter notifications for posts about every detail of who is injured, who is going to start the next game and who may be traded. While the Cardinals have locked up the NL Central title, they have a week to get ready for the playoffs making today’s game less a game of winning and more a game of getting healthy. Tennessee has an off week to get ready for LSU and Alabama limiting the need to follow updates on them. This frees me to move through my morning sports review fairly quickly.

This is the point in my morning when I allow myself to jump to social media. In the past I had spent far too much time on Facebook. The political process over the past few years has taught me to block, unfollow, and simply ignore the posts of many of my “friends”. I now spend less than ten minutes on Facebook before skimming Instagram and Twitter. In all, I rarely spend more than 30 minutes per day on social media. That is a discipline in which I take pride, though I could probably cut it even more. In short, if it doesn’t involve my grandsons, family, or close friends, I don’t even give the post a second look.

All of this takes about an hour. Every day. Even when traveling. Even when I don’t feel like it. No exceptions. When I can spend this time in the morning my days are so much better. My mood is better. I feel better physically. Even as I am semi-retired (or more accurately “semi-working”) I am a creature of habit. I prepare mentally, spiritually, emotionally for day and am then ready to go. Once I have completed my routine I can move on to the day. Oh, yeah, I can’t ignore that this also allows time for the caffeine to kick in.