Broody mornings.

It is 0433 hours. The early morn. The city has already began to stir. The morning runners have commenced their warm up, at the least. The construction industry is well and truly onto the workday. The morning shift nurses have to be at work in about an hour. The school buses would have been plying their bleary eyed wards by now, if not for the summer holidays.

We better start our days early here. By late morning, the soaring temperatures start to roast us out of our juices. By noon, we are done. We might still be at our schools and offices, but we ARE done. We sit in our dry, artificially cooled rooms and will the clock to take us to the hour that can take us home.

I ain’t a morning person, by any stretch. At best, I’m inwardly broody, at worst I’m outright snarky and irritable. I am pissed off. I am like a coiled spring, a whip waiting to lash out or riled up like an irritated lion at a noisy zoo. I have learned to live with it. It is a personality trait, not a habit that can be broken.

And the earlier I have to begin my day, the worse it seems to be.

Thanks to my default mental disposition, the early starts affect me more than the general Janes and those annoying morning persons who wake up with a smile on their face and a song on their lips. I get by most of the morning with a furrowed brow and a perpetual frown. It takes about 2 hours or so to find my groove in the mornings. Things are worse now, as I not only have to get my arse to work; I have other broody, annoyed small humans that have to be prepped and primed for their day before I head out the door. Damn destiny.

Lil’ Z seems to have taken after her mother. She hardly ever wakes up smiling, and is always slightly angry at the universe in the mornings. The Little Man, I am not sure yet. He may have escaped the Broody Morning Gene, I hope he has. He is young yet. I cannot tell for sure. I hope he has, for this household cannot handle another temperamental morning person.

You might think, I should have found ways to improve my morning mood by now. After all, it’s been three decades. The answer is yes and no. The average crappy morning feeling can be conquered, but some mornings are unsalvagable. It is almost as if, I am pissed off at myself for not dying in my sleep.

There are a few things though, that I find help me ward off the sickly feeling that seems to be engulf me as I drag myself out of bed each day.

1. Wake up early.
Rushing seems to aggravate the situation.

2. Eat something as soon as you wake up.
Maybe it’s just a simple case of acute early morning hypoglycaemia.

3. Morning run.
Probably the best solution. Almost always works. I sweat the annoyance out of me.

4. Music.
Almost as good as the run.

5. Get things in order the previous night.
Outfits, work bag, breakfast plans, nursery bags, keys- for me rushing about in the morning to get these things in order is like asking a math- hating, deprived drug addict to solve a calculus problem whilst blaring loud, clanky music that she hates. Ha, what rubbish analogy. See, I told you I am not a morning person!

6. Shower, duh!
I am a night shower person, but a morning shower always helps with my mood I notice.

7. Marry a sane, morning person.
This can work both ways. Over time, you can erode his morning vitality, or he may vanquish some of your darkness. But beware, this can either make or break your marriage 🙂

This post is dedicated to all my fellow broody morners (pun intended). I sympathise, and you are not alone.

May our tribe decrease.

GOOD MORNING!
Till next time.

Dr J.