Good Morning Sunshines!
Mornings are critical for me. It’s become the number one “work” time, working on my vision that is. The most efficient time for me to work towards my goals is in the morning, before I leave for the “real” work of my painting business. So, in the mornings, I write. I eat. I drink a coffee. I research. This has also become the time I advertise and “network” on Instagram. I’m not exactly sure how my beads fit in with my master plan – they are separate in my mind, and something of a tangental bonus for my creativity – but they are the primary way I am learning Instagram. This is important for the blogs.
BUT.
I am particularly sensitive in the mornings. One false move on my part or a scratchy interaction can set my mood for the day – on negative that is! I have to be very careful my sensitivities don’t get the better of me! Until recently, I used to just bark back against the things that would bother me, or refuse to do them, or voice a boundary, but those actions did not really solve the problem. In fact, looking back, I wonder if they didn’t exacerbate the problem by making my over-reaction to things really obvious, and someone else’s problem. In my defense, I definitely saw it as someone else’s fault for a long long time! Then, suddenly, and almost by accident, I realised I could choose my first interaction of the day.
About 6-ish months ago, I asked a friend if she would have a quick good morning text exchange with me at 7:30 am, to which she cheerfully agreed, and I knew she would, because I head-hunted her. When I reallised how important that first interaction was (I got that information via my Homeopathy clients. I noticed that when a happy client was first in the day, I subsequently had a cheerful day… ), I watched the people around me for who would be best to do this quick favour for me. I chose a friend who is better at mornings than me, a direct communicator, gets me, gets it, gets the needy need I have and doesn’t judge me, gets my vision, gets my dedication, and flat out gets the art of clear and simple positivity. Also, she didn’t require anything from me. She was the exact opposite to my twitchiness, and that causes me to show up with my best foot forward. It’s true accountability.
This has become a vital part of my self care, this choice in how I relationally start my mornings. It has changed everything, I believe! Now, I need to add some efficiency here, and I am only doing that randomly. I’d like to tweak my self care and add a little more self love so that I can turn this really valuable time into better writing, and even better Instagram posts. There is a huge opportunity for me via Instagram. It challenges my confidence because it is not just photos of my beads, but what is naturally happening as I become more and more confident writing here inside this group, I am also finding myself writing a brief “post” with my bead pic!
So. I have started doing a draft of the Instagram post in the eve before bed. I am very well-worded at this time of the day. The writer-me is uninhibited. Last night was the first night I did this – of course by accident, I love that! THIS morning when my alarm went off, I felt excited to edit the writing on the post, rather than nervous and “obligated” and pressured to promote myself. It worked brilliantly! When I posted the pic, I felt amazing about how I had represented myself, and I even had the courage to post it on some hashtag boards in Colorado!
It feels REALLY amazing to have successfully created and maintained that choiceful mood, and now to be already experiencing the results of the choiceful tweak to my morning self care. Moving the Instagram task to the evening before frees me up to be seen as the best I can be! Already, after only one day of this “self care” I feel so much more confident and proud of my work!
Oh – and I got likes from a couple of businesses on Pearl Street in Boulder, CO. Bulls eye, Smallfry.
