The calmness of Monday morning

For most people Mondays are hectic. People loathe Monday because it signals the beginning of a new week. You have to jolt yourself back into life. While I am jealous of those people who have a job to perform on Mondays, I have realized how much I have come to love my Monday mornings.

Martina's alarm goes off somewhere between 7 and 7:30 in the morning and she gets up and roll back over and sleep for a few minutes before she kisses me goodbye and heads off to work. Once she heads off downstairs, I roll back over for roughly 10 minutes before my alarm goes off at 8. Instead of jolting out of bed, I slowly release myself from a slumbering state and calmly remove myself from bed. Before I head downstairs, I do some stretching to get the morning cracks out of my body and to warm up just enough. Nothing happens at my apartment complex on Mondays. There are no lawnmowers, leaf blowers, or garbage trucks making noise. The kids are all at school. I can hear my kitten meowing and I can hear birds chirping. It is peaceful. I set up my Runkeeper, fill up my water bottle, put on my headphones, turn up the music and head off into the world at roughly 8:30.

There is not much traffic in the world when I get out there. Once I cross the bridge, I do not even hear cars anymore. 8:30 is perfect. It is before the stay at home moms and nannies take their kids to the park. It is before the school kids have recess. On my morning walks, I only encounter like minded people. I see people jogging, walking or bike riding. We acknowledge each other in a cheerful, but calm way as we continue on our separate paths, both actual paths and our own health journeys. Most of them are older than I. Everyone is at a different level of fitness, but we all appreciate the work the other is putting in. It is nice to feel that way. I no longer feel anyone judging me. I feel people looking at me and being happy for me that I am at least trying. Now, I can get this every day. What makes Monday special is the smell. Monday smells like freshly cut grass. The school has its grass cut on Monday morning. There are two houses on my path that are out cutting their lawns most Mondays. Freshly cut grass is one of my five favorite smells. it smells like newness. It smells like a new beginning. That is what Monday morning is for me. It is a new beginning. It is a chance to start fresh. I can take what happened last week, put it aside and do what I can to make this week better. I like to just walk on Mondays. I keep my pace up, but I like to be able to take everything in on Monday. I like to count my blessings that I have this serene time. I know next fall when I get a teaching job, that these moments will have to come earlier in the morning, so I appreciate the 8:30 workout while I have it.

Typically on Mondays I will walk 2.2 miles and then I will go to the gym at my apartment complex and do another 3 miles on the stationary bike. I like this routine. It gets my body doing different things for the week and it loosens everything up for me. Plus, it gets me a good sweat. It is nice to start the week with a good sweat. Last week I had to take some time off from a serious workout because of some lingering pain in my left knee, but after 3.1 miles of intense jogging and walking yesterday and this morning's workout. I feel good. I feel strong. I know I am pushing myself again because it burns. Over the last two weeks, the burn has been less because I was getting comfortable with my level of workout. It is time to up it again, and what better time than Monday. What better time than when the air smells like freshly cut grass. It smells like a time of starting over. It smells like rebirth. The grass gets fresh life and I get a fresh start.

I now have two different things I listen to on my workouts. My iTunes to not iPhone transfer is stupid, so I have limited options. I have Mumford and Sons and Skrillex. They both provide different motivations for me. When I listen to Skrillex I feel more determined. It is a more focused and intense workout. I am fully focused on the time it takes me to do my workout. I feel more competitive. There is a time for that, but that time is not Monday morning. Monday morning is for the spiritual awakening of Mumford and Sons. With Mumford, I take in my surroundings. I notice the two ducks chilling outside of the elementary school longing for an education. I notice the old man who walks with his little black dog almost every morning. I notice the massive truck with the bumper sticker telling me that God wants to talk to me about something, but will not tell me on what subject God wants to converse. I have dedicated a whole blog post to Mumford and Sons, so I will not belabor the point here, but Mumford and Sons feels perfect for a Monday morning.

I know most people agonize on Sunday nights about having to join the hectic world of employment on Monday mornings and I hope I will be that person soon enough, but for now, I love the calmness of Monday mornings. I love the slow roll out of bed, the stretching as I walk downstairs. I love the quiet of my apartment complex. I love the pace at which I walk. Mostly though, I love how Monday mornings smell in my suburban area walk. It reminds me that no matter what happens, I can always start over. I can always try again and work harder, or smarter, or faster. It tells me that last week is last week and this week I will conquer whatever conquered me last week. It reminds me that if I fail this week, next week I can do it again and I can succeed. There is a subtle transfixing power of Monday mornings right now.