Grandpa mornings

Resolution #1

Jan 08, 2025

Hi! My name is Bree, and I write about how to have better days at work (and in life). Subscribe for writing on everything from building cozy teams to living a Portfolio Life. You’ll also be the first to know about book launch events and giveaways—Today Was Fun will hit bookstores July 2025!

Grandpa Mornings.

I decided on this resolution Christmas morning. We were in Norway. I woke up in a silent room knowing Brad and Arden were still asleep. I sleepily reached across to the night stand, as I always do, and picked up my phone.

Email: Delete. Delete. No one needs me, phew.

New York Times: Russian Christmas missiles. Oh god.

LinkedIn: Ugh I could have made that video. Why didn’t I? Can I? Should I?

Instagram: Haha cats. Ooh I love that pottery. Where is this shop?

Chrome: Where is this cute pottery shop? Vancouver? We loved visiting Vancouver. Should we live in Vancouver?

Apple News: Prince William doesn’t do this holiday tradition. Do I want to know? I kind of want to know. Why do I care? Nevermind let’s find out. Ugh paywall.

Blink. Blink. Wait, am I in Norway in this deliciously cozy bed with a view of the fjords and my favorite people in the world on Christmas morning? And instead of waking up awash in that bliss, I’m waking up scared, jealous, doubting my life choices, and annoyed that I’d have to pay $9.99/month to get access to the Christmas tradition Prince William doesn’t do?!

This is shit.

Enter: Grandpa Mornings.

I knew my Christmas morning was an entirely normal way to wake up in 2024, but it wasn’t always. I found myself nostalgic thinking back to how my parents woke up, and even how my grandparents did. I thought specifically about my Grandpa Andy, my mom’s dad, who lived to 96. I was incredibly lucky to have this remarkable man in my life for so long, and through visits to his house over the years, I had a pretty good sense of how he woke up.

Around 5am he opened his eyes, no alarm clock necessary. I imagine he spent a few minutes looking out the window at the big beautiful tree he and my grandmother planted decades before. He then rolled out of bed and headed to the shower. It was quick. (Somehow he lived to 96 without a single wrinkle on his forehead and when I asked him about his skincare routine he just said “bar soap”. I died.) He then headed downstairs, got Sadie’s leash, and went out with his dog for a mile walk, rain or shine. Returning home with the newspaper in hand, he brewed some coffee, poured a small glass of orange juice, and whipped up the most perfect eggs known to man.

Only then did he sit down, turn on the morning news, and open the newspaper.

What a way to meet the day!

I’m full of disclaimers here, in that I know he didn’t have young kids to chase after, lunches to pack, work emails burning a hole in his pocket, no long commute. But I decided the sentiment holds for anyone: that if we want to hold off the outside world until we’ve had a shower, a walk, and some breakfast, well then we should.

My Grandpa Mornings look like this:

5:15ish Wake up (thank you jet lag… this won’t last forever) Look at Brad. Look at our enormous rubber tree plant. Look out the window.
5:30 Head to the kitchen and make coffee.
5:35 Sit down with my coffee and enjoy an essay from the Mary Oliver book I’m reading, Upstream.
5:45 Start writing.
6:15 Arden and Brad get up and I transition to morning chores with Brad: kid breakfast, cat breakfast, tidying, dishes, etc.
6:45 Phone time: At last I’m down the rabbit hole with email, fitbit, weather, LinkedIn, NYTimes, etc. But it’s already been a lovely phone-free morning.

I’m not perfect with it. The overachiever in me always wants to look at my fitbit first thing to see my sleep score like a kid scrambling to open their report card. I tell myself looking at the weather doesn’t count. And won’t I feel better to know there’s nothing urgent or surprising in my email. But I’m getting better and the urge is lessening.

Ultimately Grandpa Mornings are about a few things:

Establishing my phone works for me. I don’t work for my phone.
Prioritizing all the beautiful, three-dimensional things in my life before the outside world (most of which I can’t control).
Starting my day with a sense of ease and enjoyment, not threat detection.

If you think a Grandpa Morning might improve your day, give it a spin! Per my last post, you don’t have to do it forever for the experiment to be worthwhile. You can simply try it on for size: How does it feel to be the kind of person who enjoys the morning before looking at their phone? Good? Panic attack-y? It’s all ok.

And if you have any favorite morning rituals, please share!