Loved your post. Lately my morning routine has been wake up 5:40, coffee and writing, breakfast with my husband, phone, get read to work and commute. On the weekends it's more laid back and, after breakfast, I try to do crosswords and sudoku with my husband, the last time we spend two hours on this, I think it was the longest we stayed together without looking at our phones :)
What beautiful mornings you have! Love a shared game. My husband and daughter and I have been working on a big jigsaw while listening to a podcast together and it’s been lovely. Phone free husband time for 2 hours is impressive!
I really enjoyed this idea and it lined up with a recent urge to be more intentional at the start of my day. I’m shifting jobs/my work while I undergo treatment for cancer and it’s made me so aware of how immediately caught up in my phone I am. I have less pressure and things needing immediate response by design right now and I think I want to add a slow start to the day while I have the space to build it.
Oh Alice I’m sorry to hear you’re undergoing cancer treatment. It seems like you’ve made such smart life-design choices to give yourself the space you need. A slower start to the day sounds perfect ❤️
My routine for the last few months has been wake up at 5:30, read in bed for 30 minutes. Then I have to check my phone to see if I’m needed in work (I’m a substitute teacher), but only check WhatsApp and emails. Then downstairs to eat breakfast and do some puzzles. Have a cup of tea while I study languages. Then I start to check all of the nonsense on my phone.
I love grandpa mornings! I am always inspired to be more like my grandmother (who is still going strong at 110 years old!). But I always thought she was the queen of letting everyone come to her. So engaging to talk to, she would just sit in her chair in the center of the room and everyone would flock to her. She also has never had a smart phone or a computer and I think that has just left so much more room for slowness in her life - as you say, waking up and looking out the window, how beautiful!
I’ve just started working full time again after an extended break travelling, so my schedule is all over the place. But I love the sentiment of this, I imagine my grandfather (who also lives in Norway). Waking up, gazing out his window at the fjords in the valley below. Having breakfast, going for a walk, then getting on with his day - which involves being a handyman for a wealthy Swiss couple. I still debate whether the allure of the city or the countryside is going to call me when I’m looking to purchase property. But I hope to be half as fit as he is when I’m in my eighties.
Paddy, your grandpa sounds incredible. What a life. I hope I’ll be like him when I grow up too!
And I share you’re debate over the big life of a big city and the slower life of the countryside. I’m swimming in city now (we live in downtown manhattan) but during the pandemic when our lease was up we took a beeline to the English countryside and found ourselves a long-term rental there. And then my husband most loves a small walkable town. How wonderful I think that we get to play amongst them all!
You can’t really get a bigger juxtaposition than the two places listed above. Glad to hear that you were able to find solace in the British countryside during a dark time. Life is wonderful if we only open our eyes to see it.
Yes to Grandpa mornings!!! I love this. I try to also not look at my phone for the first two hours of the day. It usually works. But the thought of it being there and all the notifications piling up still makes me feel anxious. I guess that's something that will always be different for us when compared to your Grandpa's routine. But we can always adapt his mindset!! The news in the newspaper were there too, he just didn't project his attention towards it.
And such an interesting point… I wish he were here today to ask him if he felt anxious wondering what was in the days newspaper. I think you’re right though that he just didn’t project his attention towards it. Makes me think too about the decline of “watching the news” where you had a few (hopefully) trusted humans relaying it to you and almost facilitating you processing it versus just looking up big all caps headlines by ourselves.
Lately my morning ritual has been:
Wake up
Turn on the kettle
Feed mg starter
Make tea
Light incense
Close my eyes aka meditate or visualize if I can
Write morning pages
Maybe read
Sometimes I don’t get to my phone til 9am. Glorious.
You are a pro! I admire your morning. What a wonderful way to start the day. And your starter, is that sourdough starter?
Yes! Oops spelling error. Feeding my sourdough starter 💚
I've always love the thought of a starter as both an ingredient and a pet :)
I am definitely here for both grandpa mornings and evenings in 2025!
YES! Love a grandpa evening too! A little radio, a glass of port if that's your thing, a great chair :)
Exactly!!
Loved your post. Lately my morning routine has been wake up 5:40, coffee and writing, breakfast with my husband, phone, get read to work and commute. On the weekends it's more laid back and, after breakfast, I try to do crosswords and sudoku with my husband, the last time we spend two hours on this, I think it was the longest we stayed together without looking at our phones :)
What beautiful mornings you have! Love a shared game. My husband and daughter and I have been working on a big jigsaw while listening to a podcast together and it’s been lovely. Phone free husband time for 2 hours is impressive!
I love this! I have a Pinterest board called 'puttering old man'-- grandpas really have things sorted out
LOL puttering old man. Who DOESN'T want to be a puttering old man? Brilliant, Jess :)
I really enjoyed this idea and it lined up with a recent urge to be more intentional at the start of my day. I’m shifting jobs/my work while I undergo treatment for cancer and it’s made me so aware of how immediately caught up in my phone I am. I have less pressure and things needing immediate response by design right now and I think I want to add a slow start to the day while I have the space to build it.
Oh Alice I’m sorry to hear you’re undergoing cancer treatment. It seems like you’ve made such smart life-design choices to give yourself the space you need. A slower start to the day sounds perfect ❤️
I hope so and framing it as grandpa morning makes me laugh which is good. And thank you, it’s a very treatable cancer and I’m very lucky.
Loved this!! So inspiring
I’m really happy it resonated!!
I’m living for grandpa mornings!
My routine for the last few months has been wake up at 5:30, read in bed for 30 minutes. Then I have to check my phone to see if I’m needed in work (I’m a substitute teacher), but only check WhatsApp and emails. Then downstairs to eat breakfast and do some puzzles. Have a cup of tea while I study languages. Then I start to check all of the nonsense on my phone.
The slow start has changed my whole lifestyle!
Puzzles! Languages! Sarah, what a beautiful Grandpa Morning 😊
I love grandpa mornings! I am always inspired to be more like my grandmother (who is still going strong at 110 years old!). But I always thought she was the queen of letting everyone come to her. So engaging to talk to, she would just sit in her chair in the center of the room and everyone would flock to her. She also has never had a smart phone or a computer and I think that has just left so much more room for slowness in her life - as you say, waking up and looking out the window, how beautiful!
110!! Incredible. (Also, way to win the genetic lottery!)
She does indeed sound like a queen. A slower life filled with magnetism and people flocking to her sounds like she's really figured something out :)
What a wonderful way to look at your mornings! Very inspiring and I think I’ll be following your lead in this new year.
I’m so happy it resonated! Hope you enjoy!
this was delightful! feeling inspired to have softer morning of soft tending and simple pleasures. a daily *that grandpa* a.m. routine 🦩
I’m so glad you’re feeling inspired! “Soft” is such a wonderful word for it all.
I’ve just started working full time again after an extended break travelling, so my schedule is all over the place. But I love the sentiment of this, I imagine my grandfather (who also lives in Norway). Waking up, gazing out his window at the fjords in the valley below. Having breakfast, going for a walk, then getting on with his day - which involves being a handyman for a wealthy Swiss couple. I still debate whether the allure of the city or the countryside is going to call me when I’m looking to purchase property. But I hope to be half as fit as he is when I’m in my eighties.
Paddy, your grandpa sounds incredible. What a life. I hope I’ll be like him when I grow up too!
And I share you’re debate over the big life of a big city and the slower life of the countryside. I’m swimming in city now (we live in downtown manhattan) but during the pandemic when our lease was up we took a beeline to the English countryside and found ourselves a long-term rental there. And then my husband most loves a small walkable town. How wonderful I think that we get to play amongst them all!
You can’t really get a bigger juxtaposition than the two places listed above. Glad to hear that you were able to find solace in the British countryside during a dark time. Life is wonderful if we only open our eyes to see it.
If you're into digital minimalism and living a low-tech life, you might like my upcoming series on going analogue!
Please share a link or more info here!!
More info here! https://neurodivergentnotes.substack.com/about
Yes to Grandpa mornings!!! I love this. I try to also not look at my phone for the first two hours of the day. It usually works. But the thought of it being there and all the notifications piling up still makes me feel anxious. I guess that's something that will always be different for us when compared to your Grandpa's routine. But we can always adapt his mindset!! The news in the newspaper were there too, he just didn't project his attention towards it.
So impressive! 2 hours, brava!
And such an interesting point… I wish he were here today to ask him if he felt anxious wondering what was in the days newspaper. I think you’re right though that he just didn’t project his attention towards it. Makes me think too about the decline of “watching the news” where you had a few (hopefully) trusted humans relaying it to you and almost facilitating you processing it versus just looking up big all caps headlines by ourselves.
Yes, very interesting. Almost like a filter system instead of directly consuming.