Postcards from Real Life: Morning

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Every morning is a chance to start over, reset, and reframe.

Mornings are a lot like New Years—a chance to start over, reframe. They’re just smaller and a part of the daily rhythm. But more important I think.

Because how we spend our days is how we spend our lives, right? I think that applies to how we spend our time but also our mindset.

And how we approach mornings sets the tone. I find it to be a self-determination cycle in my life. How I carry my previous day into the next one makes a huge damn difference in how the new day goes.

Obviously it’s a helluva lot easier to wake up and be optimistic when life is going pretty well. When the going is tough, it can be a tall fucking order to drag your ass out of bed and figure out how to make things better. Or at least better than the previous day.

And that’s largely been my reality lately—bogged down with a bunch of life things that have accumulated into a steaming pile of shit and frustration. It’s all way more than this little postcard can hold so I’ll save those details for another time.

And the details aren’t the point. They’re the catalyst for reminding myself there’s always going to be shit in life and it’s up to me to figure out how to navigate it, one day at a time.

For now, I’m taking a beat to marvel at how this weekly writing exercise has helped me process that reminder. And when I think of the mental reset that comes with morning and the opportunities a new day presents, this image from the Smokies is what I see in my head.

It makes me pause, take a deep breath, and remember that insanely beautiful morning.

And that everything hasn’t always sucked.

Cheers, friends. Here’s to embracing each morning as a new start.

Bluesky Art Show

This post is inspired by the Bluesky Art Show, a challenge to share artwork surrounding a weekly theme each Saturday.