Dunkirk NY – Every morning for the past lifetime or so, I have gotten out of bed, made coffee, and sat down to read the newspaper. It is the most ingrained habit I possess. When I used to have the paper form of the newspaper delivered, it was a daily ritual that could not really be repeated. Once I had read the newspaper, that was it. The Internet changed all that, as the digital version of the newspaper could now keep up with the 24/7 news cycle. Breaking news could now be read on the newspaper as well as watching it on TV or listening to the radio. I do not really get my news from any other source. I used to listen to NPR’s All Things Considered in the evenings as my alternate news source, but even that has dried up with the digital availability of newspapers.
I have noted, though, that this has now begun to disturb my morning routine. When the analog paper arrived, everything in it was new, containing information and articles I had not read before. The digital newspaper, however, arrives with very little new. Maybe the articles are re-arranged, but the contents are seldom “new” in the sense that there is information I don’t already know or haven’t read since my last evening glance before bedtime. The “news” is no longer new. I find a quick scan of the headlines is about all I need to catch up. My news-reading habit is now spread throughout the day rather than concentrated in the morning.
With this post, I am going to try to shake up this morning routine. Rather than get up, make coffee and read the news, I am going to see what happens if I get up, make coffee, and write first thing in the morning. I am thinking there may be some advantages to this approach that will make me a more prolific writer and get me some more much-needed practice. Advantages such as:
- Producing more writing. I have tended to read quite a bit in the morning, and when I was working, it was often the case that reading kept me from arriving at the office as early as perhaps I should have been arriving. My reading sessions could be as long as two hours on occasion. And then, throughout the course of the day, finding time to write became difficult.
- A feeling of accomplishment to start the day. The news today is quite depressing, and leaves me feeling sort of glum and, in some ways, helpless. Getting some sort of writing done in the morning might change this perspective.
- Clearing my head. Writing clears my head and releases all those things I’ve been pondering over the day. Going through an exercise first thing in the morning that clears my head may result in a better mood, and may also spark more motivation throughout the day.
That last issue, motivation, is perhaps the key to it all. Now that I am mostly in charge of providing my own motivation for getting through each day, I am finding that producing that motivation is somewhat difficult to do. I’m very thankful that I am not much of a TV watcher, as I suspect that TV-watching is one of the worst substitutions for working there is. But the Internet is as bad, and I am finding already that the temptation to sit and websurf is as strong – and probably as bad – as mindless TV-watching. I do have a lot to accomplish in the immediate moment, such as de-cluttering, preparing finances, and all the things that go with transitioning from a life of work to one of retired independence. It’s getting the motivation to do these things that I find difficult. As I’ve mentioned before, my life up to this point has been motivated largely by external forces, and primarily by the need to earn a salary properly paid using a check stub creator software. Adjusting from that will take some effort and, it seems to me, the establishment of some new routines. Substituting writing (active) for reading (passive) may be a good place to start. -twl