Don't Feel So Aligned While on the Road? Amen, sis! How My Morning Routine is My Best Bet for My Best Self
One month and six days ago, after packing up our lives in LA and leaving our loved ones behind, Alan, me, and our bunny Fi landed in Dallas, Texas.
Since then, we’ve traveled to Lake Whitney to jump in the lake and bask in my 32nd birthday, New Braunfels to celebrate my brother’s 39th whilst guzzling delicious meats and tubing down a river, Austin to explore a potential future, Hudson River to visit my birth-Grandma on my maternal side, and then back to Dallas to prepare for a concert with my bestie in Denver.
Side note: The Red Hot Chili Peppers' current tour is unreal fire; if you have any means of going, you should. Even if you don’t think you like them. Even if! You just don’t get “it” yet. Trust me, the full OG band with John Frusciante is playing together for the first time in 16 years, and it is not to be missed live. Also, we were there when they announced another release of a new album this year! Man, they really brewed up some love during these shutdowns, and the outpouring of talent they are offering us now is wild.
Denver was a surprisingly compassionate place. The city and establishments therein were all very hip and spacious. The streets were physically immaculate, and–most notably for the contrast–the locals were very inclusive towards the houseless population.
After we raged and bloomed in music, Alan and I returned to Dallas to prepare for our San Marcos adventure to explore a potential future. Read all about that beautiful discovery in my last publication here.
Come early August we returned to Dallas for a two-day stint to apply for rentals and jobs and take interviews–
–before packing up the elder-fam and jetting off to Vermont to attend a wedding! It was hot and it was gorgeous. I felt beautiful, and the anxiety-riddled time during the weekend’s fashion-prep was well worth the glory of feeling fly in high-stress times.
Bing, bang, boom! The travel conglomerate kept growing, and with Alan’s family we moseyed through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut down to Long Island for a time before spending a day in New York City visiting no less than 5 different bits of the close-friend and family list…
*gasps for breath*
THE CONSTANT TRAVELS HAVE BEEN HI-KEY A LOT, MY FRIENDS.
And after the Dallas airport shutting down for no apparent reason while we were en route, and being re-routed to Little Rock, Arkansas, of all places, I am thrilled to be (at last!) back in Dallas for what will be a chiller few days of my Summer 2022.
I am big on activating my morning routine to embody my most magnetic and vital self.
Doing what I can while I am hoofing it around the globe to maintain a healthy routine in mind, body, & spirit is extremely helpful to keeping up my mental health and productive wellbeing.
First things first! I sleep in total darkness whenever possible.
When we are in total darkness our pineal glands secrete melatonin, aka the hormone of darkness, which is pivotal to deep and healthy sleep, regulating your hormones properly throughout the entirety of the day, and a high-functioning immune system. Among many important functions–such as regulating inflammation–melatonin also prevents fibrosis, reduces oxidative stress, and inhibits the cell-death caused by corona virus.
They do sell melatonin tablets. However, it is best to avoid all supplements and instead encourage our body’s to activate their best selves on their own. Which means prioritizing healthy sleep via a dark environment. Too many supplements puts stress on the liver, and potentially triggers a stream of side effects that you can avoid entirely with the trust in and use of your natural, human suit that was designed to execute all of your needs with holistic perfection.
Upon waking up from my dreamy voyages in the ether-worlds, I chug a big glass of filtered water enhanced with minerals to activate my internal organs and flush my liver from any circulating toxins.
Then I go outside, get my bare toesies onto the earth and get morning light into my eye-balls. The latter is to regulate my circadian rhythm, and assist my body’s hormone regulation by letting it know what time it is. That way, the body will know when to release necessary hormones such as cortisol and melatonin throughout the day to be in alignment with the day’s energetic needs.
Earthing, or grounding, is the aforementioned habit which I picked up from my Qi-Gong teacher in college. It’s getting a lot of press these days but has been around since the beginning of human kind. Exposing your feet to the earth assists in stabilizing our internal bioelectrical environments for the normal functioning of all body systems. It also helps with regulating that good ol’ circadian rhythm!
While I am outside welcoming the infrared light of the sunrise and getting my feets in the grass I’ll take the opportunity to get in 40 jumping jacks to support my lymph nodes. Lymph flow slows while we are asleep, and the act of jumping helps to increase the circulation of our lymphatic drainage system so it can do its important job of flushing out infection and protecting our hot bods from disease.
If the mosquitos allow it, I’ll stay outside and sit in meditation for a timed five minutes. Ending both my meditations and my naps with a little alarm is important for me to feel safe enough to sink in. I know I’ll be called back in due time, and so I can allow my mind to settle and stop trying to keep up with the to-do lists that love to go-and-go-and-go in this lil ol’ noggin o’ mine.
I’ll also pop a Wellbutrin, for that is the most effective anti-depressant I’ve been privy to. I’ve been treating my diagnosed clinical depression off and on since I was 14 (the off years were quite diabolical), and have found sustained success with the off-brand Bupropion for going on five years.
These few starters of my day are the foundation of my wellbeing. I really love my mornings, and if I get them right I will also stretch my body head to toe and free-write to fill three pages. This last habit comes from The Artists Way, and I have always found it so helpful in treating my anxieties and creative blocks.
Have you read this notorious text on the creative path? If so I’d love to hear about your biggest take-aways and experience overall in the comments! I have only ever read enough to bestow the morning pages routine onto my psyche. However, I sense that the entirety of the book is an absolute must and I definitely have it highly prioritized on my one-day-I’ll-do-it-I-swear list.
This all takes less than 30 minutes and sets me up for the best day I can muster. I am always finagling with my morning routine and some pieces flow in and flow out. These bits I’ve shared are the tried and true, for years to boot!
What are your favorite morning habits? Let us know in the comments!
Sometimes depression hits, regardless of my routine and treatment, and I’ll find myself wrapped up in darkness with a lack of healthy habits quicker than you can say jack-rabbit. But, I always have the opportunity to work through it and will begin my climb my way out of the pits of downtrodden hell by first relying on the simplest bits of my morning routine.
If I fall off the wagon, I just start again with the chugging of my water upon waking
then I move onto washing my face and moisturizing it with loving touch and natural oils before activating facial reflexology points with my favorite handy dandy reflexology tool. If you want to get into reflexology without buying anything, just use your hands or the clean end of a makeup brush! This practice is especially helpful to support the immune system, liver health, and kidney health which are all consistent, high priorities of mine.
The liver is associated with anger and dampness in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Supporting my liver over the years has greatly contributed to working through not only health issues such as nausea and IBS but also lingering emotional tempermentality that tends to get in the way of my life-worth-living goals. Hot tip: stinging nettle tea is great for liver support.
I hope some of these insights and resources help you wrangle a morning routine that supports your mind, body, and spirit too! Our flesh vessels are so very capable of taking care of us if we do what we can to take care of them. I’ve faced a lot of tragedy from disease in my days, and taking responsibility for my place in this world has been the most rewarding choice to date.
Mahalo nui loa, Julia Fae
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I wake up and feed the pet and then get mad that he doesn't feed me.
Wow so awesome to hear about all your recent travels and I love the morning routine!! It does take time to create one that feels aligned and is also flexible ~ I also really liked the artist way and did morning pages for like a few years straight they were very healing as are the artist dates she recommends. I think you'd love the rest of the book lol. My fav part of my morning routine is consulting my tarot cards, spending time at my altar and recently I've been doing mindful walks in the morning and chilling with the hummingbirds that join me :)