EARLY BIRD

I am notoriously early for everything: I am also a morning person, I just am. Don’t get me wrong I love a night out and having a boogie (I come across a lot older than I am using the word boogie don’t I?) and right now I’m writing this at midnight in bed but I just fucking love mornings. I love the sunrise, I love waking up feeling refreshed and awake and I like getting stuff done before lunchtime. If I don’t get up until late morning or midday I feel rubbish. Like a slug. Like I can’t possibly achieve anything now because the best bit of the day has gone. 

JUMPSUIT - NOBODY'S CHILD

T-SHIRT - H&M

EARRINGS - H&M

BOOTS - NEWLOOK

BAG - PRIMARK

This love for mornings and my sense of belonging in the morning, therefore, meant I was over the moon that the lovely Scarlett Stevens was more than happy to meet up with me on a Sunday morning before work to do this photo shoot. It was such a great couple of hours, which lead to me being in a great mood at work all afternoon. I was up and out the house by 8am; dewy, cold, morning air on my face- even though I hadn’t eaten or had any coffee yet- I was happy. We had gorgeous weather, creating these insanely glowy shots of (a usually gloomy/ grey in February) Manchester, we wandered around some of my favourite buildings and places and I made a wonderful new friend. 

A problem, however, with the fact I am a morning person, a morning person who likes to be organised and early for everything is that combined with Dyslexia I can sometimes get in a bit of a muddle. Getting a phone call on your way into work saying that you should already be there is horrible. I’m usually on top of all of that stuff- where I have to be and when- I keep a calendar that I constantly update and double check, but, because I am dyslexic I very occasionally let myself down by missing something or misreading stuff. This then leads to panic attacks. Now, because I am on top of stuff 99% of the time, I don’t often get panic attacks anymore. When I was 16/17 they were a daily occurrence, only solved by going home and reading a book. Now I maybe get 3/4 a year which is obviously a vast improvement. If you’ve never had a panic attack before though, it honestly feels like you’re dying and that this pain and stress and fear will never end and only intensify more. So, not the best way to be walking into work because no doubt you’ll need a quick cry in the toilet. This, obviously, ruined a morning and a whole day because I felt anxious and guilty for the entirety of it. 

In order to properly achieve a great morning, there are a few things I do the night before... I get an outfit out- I knew I’d be wearing this for my shoot with Scarlett so that was easier than usual, but I try to pick something appropriate, comfy if I’m going to work etc. I set alarms for when I want to be up, leaving myself at least an hour to get ready and sometimes alarms for just before I need to leave the house. And then I double check- if I’m in work I double check what time I’m in, I double check my alarms and my outfit and my handbag are all good to go. 

So, in summary, I really do love mornings and I genuinely work hard to continue loving them. I may just naturally wake up early and go to bed early (usually) but I like to make sure I’m making the most of each day- very specifically, the AM.

IWx

*all photos featured taken by Scarlett Stevens.