About ten years ago (yikes!) I told myself I was going to start getting up early in the morning to exercise. On the first day of my new “routine”, I drug myself out of bed, put on my tennis shoes and hit the treadmill. I hated it, everything about it, so it ended there.

Ever since then, I have just written it off as something that I can’t do – the whole getting up early thing, in order to work or have “me” time. Crazy that I assumed that it would still not work for me without even giving it another shot. I was afraid I would let myself down if I tried again because for some reason I feel like if I do something, I should make it a routine and do it everyday. Not sure where that came from.

3 weeks ago I gave it another shot, with some changes. At 5:30am I went straight to my teakettle, and with tea and water canteen I headed to the studio to paint. Tiptoeing on the quietest feet, so as not to wake the sleeping children upstairs.

From the first quiet sip of tea, I knew I would like this. I painted silently for nearly an hour before I heard the first yawn and stretch of my soft warm boys upstairs. I finished a painting, and finished another one the following day (I had two that I was having trouble putting the finishing touches on during the busy days).

Another difference about this new try is that I am giving myself permission to miss a day – if I am up in the middle of the night more than once with my kiddos, I give myself permission to turn off the 5:40am alarm. Because I am being kinder to myself, I am finding that I look forward to standing at the sink while my wonderful electric teakettle works for me – quickly steaming me up a serving or two of tea water.

This experience has been eye-opening for me. Getting my “me” and quiet time out of the way early helps me to be a better mom during the day. Getting some painting or writing (I’m writing a book, but who isn’t?!) done early helps me feel some success.

I wonder how often we keep from giving experiences a second chance because of an earlier failure?

above image: Pause

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Love & Sincerely, Katie