My Current Morning Routine — Involves Only 1 Minute After My Eyes are Open

From a 30-year-old woman taking a year off sabbatical

I have recently quit my job, have left London (my home for 13 years), and moved into a van in Brighton, a seaside town in the UK.

For the past two months, I woke up every day not sure where I was. “Why is there a roof vent in the ceiling?” “Right, because it a van.” “Why are there weird birds chirping?” “Yep, the fierce seagulls.”

Finally, I have settled down and know where I am and what I am doing.

Hang on, do I know what I am doing?

Taking a sabbatical as a 30-year-old is different from a 17-year-old taking a gap year before deciding what to study at university/college. It is legitimate for teens to be lost, but a sabbatical is a deliberate choice of a mature person. People are watching you, what the heck is this crazy bitch doing (paraphrased).

Ignoring opinions from others, it’s also important to know what we are doing and why we are doing this. Knowing the answers is the key to happiness and intentional living.

The chicken or the egg

As a teenager, the purpose of a gap year is usually to find ourselves. It’s possible to take a leave with over 90% of not knowing and perhaps spend 50% of the time during the year asking more questions.

However, as an adult going on a sabbatical, my logic is reversed. Our studying and working life should have informed us something about the truth of living and of ourselves. When we take a year out or make a big change, that’s for us to test whether the ideal life in our head actually works and will bring us happiness.

This is a big decision because as an adult, we usually have bigger financial, family and other commitments. Our career progression can also be jeopardized because of this decision. Although the latter is often exaggerated by fear.

I have entered my sabbatical knowing 100% what I need to do, but I also have left an open mind to accept that things might go the wrong way, as many people like to remind me, the grass is always greener. In that way, I will experiment with living my “ideal life” with an authentic response. This sabbatical should help me to become realistic about my life trajectory, not more dreamy.

A sabbatical should be stoic, pragmatic and knowledge-driven.

My morning routine

Life is hectic, changes are overwhelming. We can’t plan to the exact minute-detail of our life so there’s always a risk that we will drift away from our plan or worse, drift back to our old ways.

We should be highly conscious and alert to every minute of our life during a sabbatical (or when we are making plans and changes to our life).

So every morning before I leave my bed, I ask myself what’s the point of me making these changes. I remind myself what’s the purpose of my experiment is, what are my values, what do I mean by living my ideal life, and what my vision for my life is.

Question 1: what’s the point?

Some might take a sabbatical as a year off to take a break, some might want to make permanent changes.

Question 2: what’s the vision?

Do I want to go back refreshed and with a new perspective and creativity, or do I want to experiment with a completely new way of living that’s sustainable for a 100-year-old life? That’s something to consider.

Beginner’s mind

Restating our vision and values helps us to remember our original aim and experience life with a beginner’s mind. Every day is a brand new day with a fresh intention and vision.

Unconscious routines make us auto-pilot. Sometimes being automatic is the most efficient, but it also takes out the fun of living and the human characteristics of us. Over time, we might even lose ourselves in these routines and expectations.

Remember, transforming a human into robots will not beat AI or machine learning, because they will always beat us (they are already robots!). We need to play our strength — being human.

So practicing seeing the world with our beginner’s mind will help us shape our lives much more compassionately and consciously.

Brighton has experienced horrible weather lately, and one Thursday afternoon, the sun was finally out. I was focusing on work until noon, and when that’s finished, I saw the beautiful sun out.

I paused and thought, I could continue with work, but my sabbatical is to help me find autonomy and a sustainable way to live. I thought about my value and vision and decided that it’s time to go for walk and get some vitamin D in me. So that’s what I did, and I walked for 2 hours before returning to my desk, completely rejuvenated.

Small changes before big ones

People who are reading this might be hating their lives and want to make some changes too. I write many articles about creating the ideal life, and we need to know what our ideal life, values and vision are if we want to make meaningful changes.

We are not that young anymore. Changes are still possible but there’re more at stake. So let’s be pragmatic about it.

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