RE: anxiety, lack of motivation in the morning.

When I get up, I take some damiana & cordyceps, and drink some coffee. That peps me right up. I can get anxious in the morning on work days, that's why the resistance exercise helps. I burn off that aggro stuff right away before the sun comes up.

Although I really do appreciate your input, I hesitate to try that as I've read that damiana in doses large enough for an effect can damage the liver, and that cordyceps has a sedative effect which would seem counter-productive for motivation and energy.

Maybe your coffee is giving you motivation via temporary energy, but I wouldn't want to use stimulants because they can actually cause anxiety, and just make you crash after a couple hours. Besides that, they can have many side effects and aren't very healthy in the long term.

5 a.m. wake up. PT for an hour. Then shower, coffee, and if I have time, grab some yogurt or toast with brie and honey. Then work.

My motivation?

If I don't get up and go to PT every morning, I get pay deducted and extra duty or fired.

Hmm, cordyceps stimulates production of testosterone from Leydig cells. I do know about the potential liver damage from damiana, I keep it to approx 700 mg or so. I think that's within the safe range.

Yeah, caffeine can cause anxiety. For me, I drink about 3-4 cups over about 4 hours, and burn it off. Pretty low dosage again.

It works for me, to each their own!

^True. I just wish I could find a routine that works for me.

Bump...

You just said your not a morning person, and everyone is different. Get up when it feels right.

I've tried getting up at different times, I've tried getting more sleep, I've tried mixing up the order of my routine, even tried a healthier diet- no matter what I do I still feel tired, anxious, and unmotivated.

Motivation is nothing more than a habit.

If you aren't motivated the ONLY way to really change that is to force yourself to have motivation.

Make a list of goals for a month were each week gets a little harder. Then do it, No excuses.
By the end of the month when you sit down to make your list for second month you will find it a lot easier to do.

No need to keep making it harder. Just keep a simple list of tasks to keep yourself motivated.
Learn a language. Learn an instrument. Etc, etc.

Overtime you will naturally start to BE the person you have been trying to be.



Motivation is your natural birthright. Just chose to become motivated and then do it.

Peace.

This sounds very familiar to me.

IME it wasn't as much a lack of motivation, but a morning depression where nothing seems to flow. There could have been an event on my calender that I'd been looking forward to ever so fondly, then on the morning of the day, I'd have a feeling of dread surrounding the whole thing.
This "depression" would last until into the afternoon and then only by late evening I'd start to feel like everything's right again. This caused me to stay up later, as it was the only time of the day where I'd feel like my mind actually functions properly, however this reinforced the vicious cycle of groggy mornings.

It didn't actually seem to matter how much sleep I got. A little or a lot, the morning vibe was still the same. As I'd always feel quite chirpy before bedtime, but wake up feeling deflated, I figured it had to be something to do with the efficency of my sleeping.

The only thing that seemed to help was a mass lifestyle change...

How you bring that about is down to you.

When I was not even 10 years of age I'd pass out after walking downstairs in the morning. My mother took me to a doctor to get some insight and I remember he gave no diagnosis but recommended I was given a sweet cup of tea upon awakening.

From that day forth, as unaware of the situation I was, I became sugar power'd! As I was running on sugar from the moment I awoke I never thought a thing of it. Then a few months back it occurred to me that I consume a hell of a lot of refined sugars. Anything you could add sugar to, it was done. I figured I should probably try life without refined sugars and also caffeine as I consumed a lot of that aswell.

So how am I getting out of bed in the morning?

Well to the best of my knowledge, the human body's not designed to run on Tate + Lyle so now I make sure that quickly after awakening I drink my smoothie. Greens, banana and bee pollen are my staples. It didn't take long to get in the habbit and it really helped.

I want to get to the stage when I'm doing my exercise in the morning also. Not with standing over-doing things. nothing gets you going like... well... getting going But as I have work, it seems I'm still often running late if I try to squeeze in some AM miles.

What's important isI have a vision, it's attainable and I'm well on my way compared to 12 months ago.

Love this thread! My morning routine has sadly become 'hit the snooze button, grab a shower, get dressed, rush to work with a granola bar in hand'. Hoping to change that.

Thank you for this thread and all the input. It reminds me to push myself to do more with my mornings and feel better about myself everyday. I need to write down goals and a to-do list instead of doing nothing in the morning but rolling out of bed tired and unmotivated. Its great to see so many of you have great beneficial morning routines. I need to take the first steps toward change now!

Thanks everyone. I'm happy to hear that this thread is inspiring people.

People often don't consider how important those first few hours are. Establishing a healthy, positive morning routine mentally/emotionally prepares us and can form a foundation for the rest of the day.

Keep the replies coming! All advice and personal experience is appreciated.

Man, it's good to think about these things... thanks for asking the question...

1)leak
2)toothbrush
3)meditate 20+ minutes
4)coffee
5)shower
6)dress
7)out the door to ignore my bosses for 8 hours

I think the biggest key to my day starting right though is getting enough sleep

Morning?.. What's morning?.. I wake up at 12:00 noon sometimes 11, It usually starts with and then follows in this order: 4-5 rips off the bong, release bodily fluids in the restroom(lol), eat something, shower, whatever else that happens afterwards is simply fate.

C_S

You sir, are a terrible person.

Well currently im back-packing around South America so every morning is different. Right now I'm living in a small village in Peru so there is nothing much to do in the day time other than swim in the Amazon so to to honest I try to sleep in as late as possible.

BUT... in the real world back home I had a steady routine. I do crossfit 4 mornings a week at 9am then arrive at my studio by noon for my first appointment at 1pm. I love travelling but after 8 months I actual miss those days. Nothing better than an ass kicking workout to start your day followed by doing what you love!

I try to meditate when i can but to be honest I suck at it. However every day I do meditate for just 10-20 min it's always a better day. You'd think I'd be more consiteant but I guess im just lazy or maybe just human. Same diff.

Haha I know right.. Working nights is the best thing since sliced bread.

C_S

" Haha I know right.. Working nights is the best thing since sliced bread. "




. . . and "working" 15 minutes a day in my basement garden then doing whatever I feel like is the best thing since that sliced bread was slipped into that first toaster. Yeah, I know, I'm the devil.

If at all possible I lay awake for a good 30 mins before anything else, hugging my pillow, rolling around, stretching, neck bending. Letting my mind slowly wake up and ease into my body, flex all the muscles and orient itself to the sense of touch, to drag it back from it's long paralysis and become tactile again. My body is stiff and aches like an old man's in the morning if I don't get moving. And the less I let my mind wander off, the better.

It is easy for me to get lost in thought, confused about what I want the day to look like or stuck on what to do next, if I don't first allow myself to really relax. Take a deep breath, and let all good and worth-while absorb my thoughts, like women, or breakfast smells, or those nuances of dream still clinging and dying the day's first thoughts from the night before.

Most important and consistent in my routine are the fresh air and light aerobics / stretching exercises, mostly for my legs and feet. I sit up, turn on some heat, throw open a window, then get down and funky with myself sprawled out on the floor. Breakfast or no, trying to let go and just feel is as good a start as any.

Usually:

Shower
Stretch (w/ music)
Dress " "
Breakfast (quinoa & yogurt or bacon & eggs)

If it is a weekend I'll smoke a spliff before eating. For some reason I like my exercise in the evenings.