I have successfully taken back my mornings. Now, I don’t mean I’ve taken them back in a Tim Ferriss kind of way. Shit, I haven’t organized my mornings! But I do own them again.

What that means is that no one tells me where to be or when to be there in the morning. It is one of the prizes that I most enjoy since I began taking A Day On. Most of the work I do as a web developer can be done anywhere at any time and yet I found myself working for companies that required I get up early and fight my way to some uninspiring corporate office park miles from home.

My stress came from being literally uncentered. My home, my kids, my home office, my life was in Belleville, a suburb of St Louis, and even as a technology worker I was still not allowed to harness the power of that technology, expected to get in my fossil-fuel-powered vehicle and commute to work in some completely arbitrary, uncomfortable location far from my life.

Employers like to take your mornings just like schools always did. As a result, mornings sucked. And fuck that, there are too many reasons mornings should not suck. I’m a grown up now. You ain’t takin’ my mornings anymore.

A day like today, with a sick kid peacefully sleeping in the next room, would have been a crisis at 6:00 AM. Where are we going to go with her? We’ll have to get her dressed, take her out in the cold, placate the grandparents (thank God for grandparents) all before the usual commute and daily battle for a buck even began. Then the worry, the phone calls home, the scheduling of doctor’s appointments… you get the idea. And, what for? Because as workers we’re supposed to fit into a one-size-fits-none corporate mold.

If at all possible I recommend taking back your mornings. It is a strategic win that will pay off all through your life.

There was another morning epiphany. It was on an early-morning as I made my way through the campground to the bathroom. Everyone who knew they would soon be hiking smiled as they greeted you. There we were, up at an insane hour, everyone warming up, stretching a and waking up. I lost count of how many sweet smiles, full eye contact, soul contact and very deliberate wishes of “Good Morning.” Imagine a world where those you encounter in the morning are all enjoying and sharing the sweet awakening of Life!

Join us in our quest to take back our mornings.

Recommended Listening: Beck – Morning Phase