Curate.

You know that time of night? 4pm, all the people are wondering what's for dinner & you feel that familiar irritation starting to crawl up your arms and settle into your chest? 

woof. 

I've been there. 

I don't know why I am so good at consistently letting the night before and entire day to compound into the hours of 4-8pm every day, but we do. Right?

Reminder: Your day BEGINS THE NIGHT BEFORE. 

I'm going to keep reminding you of that. Because while our morning momentum is a powerful tool... our nighttime routines, rituals, and rhythms have just as much if not more power over how our days go. 

This week I want you to consider how you can curate the pocket of your day that feels the hardest. Maybe yours is getting kids out the door in the morning, or the afternoon lull where you tend to mindlessly scroll and avoid. Maybe it's the evening hours. Whenever it is, take a minute to wave a figurative magic wand over them: 

If you could curate this pocket of time.. How would it look? What would you be doing? What would everyone else be doing? How would it feel? What would you be wearing? How would you speak? What would be great about it? What problems would you solve for? 

While there's no magic wands in our real life, we do have some curating leverage if we're willing to put forth a little effort beforehand. 

 Let's workshop a scenario: 

Mornings are rough. It seems like everyone is rushing around at once trying to pack lunches, make toast and yogurt, spilling milk and juice. Some aren't ready to be awake yet. Others have been awake for hours. (ugh). 

Magic Wand It: 

You get up at a decent time. Not too early, not late. You are at ease and enjoying your family. You are in your leggings & messy bun & tennis shoes, ready to keep the momentum going. There is food for breakfast and an empty sink. The counters are cleaned off, and you walk into the kitchen and take a deep breath. It feels so good to start with a clean slate. 

Does the madness commence? It sure does. But YOU ARE READY. You are calm. You are grounded, centered, and at peace. 

Now that we've evaluated where you are, and where you want to be, we can pretty clearly see the bridges to cross to fill in the caps & get curating the morning time momentum. 

Workshop it:

It's 8 o'clock pm. You are tired. The sink is full of dishes. You really really want to walk out of this room for the night, put on your pajamas, and get lost in the instagram Reel world. 

But you remember your upcoming curated morning. You rehearsed it in your mind. You know how good it's going to feel to wake up to a clean slated kitchen. You know it's going to jump start your entire day's energy and momentum. You start to feel protective of this morning rhythm. You have a small desire to take care of you, too. 

Whenever we start designing and creating a new pattern our lives, we make it a spiritual pursuit. We invite God into the creation and implementation process. 

How is tucking your kitchen in at night a spiritual pursuit? 

What if tucking in the kitchen was a spiritual liturgy of sorts. A ritual of gratitude. A ritual of love for yourself and those around you. What if the repeated pattern of cleaning off counters, loading dishes, sweeping floor was an expression of worship? 

Start tiny. For a few weeks, your baseline behavior might be, after we eat I will clean off the counters. And then as that becomes a little easier you add on "after I clean off the counters I will load the dishes." and so on. 

A really beautiful thing starts to form within these new spiritual patterns: you begin to take on a new identity. 

You start to see yourself as a person who.... is a good steward of her home. 

As a person who... tucks her kitchen in every night. 

A person who... protects her morning momentum. 

In this new identity, you feel successful. You celebrate your wins. You keep expanding the liturgy of routine. 

You are doing a really good job. 

Evaluate. Collect the data. Workshop your life. Make it a spiritual pursuit. Act! :) 

The tiny & consistent things matter much more than the one-time-big-gesture. 

Keep showing up!

You are loved!