Morning Pursuits

 When spring semester ended last May, I couldn’t wait to sit in my sunroom, drink my iced tea and do my New York Times puzzles without a ticking clock. But my summer course, which began a week after spring semester ended, is online, so starting the day on a screen, even for leisure activities, quickly became less satisfying than I’d expected. 

One Sunday morning, I decided to intentionally begin the day differently. Instead of going right to my New York Times games, I would devote 15 minutes to reading, journaling, and other offline pursuits before turning to Wordle and the mini crossword.

Fifteen minutes flew by, quickly blossoming into close to an hour. The book I chose quickly sparked new ideas, leading me to other things — notes jotted in my reading journal, and ideas for this blog and other writing projects.

I was amazed by how such a simple change in routine led to an explosion of new thoughts and ideas. I would credit the book I was reading, but although it was good, it wasn’t particularly remarkable, making it a springboard into the flow that ensued, rather than the distraction that it could have been.

In his workshop at the Pennwriters conference last May, author and psychologist Brent Maguire talked about how we can use our habits to fuel our writing. While reading only sometimes leads me to an explosion of ideas, my New York Times games, enjoyable as they are, never do. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop playing them (I’m not), but it does mean that first thing in the morning might not be the best time to do so, at least not on a daily basis. Unless my change in routine was an anomaly (and I don’t think it was), it’s possible that I was handing over a potentially fruitful time to the pursuit of an activity that narrowed my focus rather than broadening it. 

The funny thing is that I’m NOT a morning person. I like to start my day slowly, preferably after 9AM. But first thing in the morning, I haven’t yet been hijacked by the day’s to-do list. Consequently, my mind is freer to go wherever it pleases until I rein it in with thoughts of right answers and productivity. Starting with my puzzles narrowed my focus, whereas reading, journaling and other offline pursuits invited the ideas to flow, broadening my creativity.

Some mornings, the New York Times puzzles will beckon and I will heed their call. But, knowing what I know now, I'll do so with intention. 

On other mornings, though, especially those without deadlines, I'll brush aside the temptation and opt for reading and journaling instead, relishing the path on which those pursuits take me.

And, time permitting, I'll continue to follow where they lead.

Iced tea image by Lucent_Designs_dinoson20 from Pixabay