Midlife Revolution Unleashed

Rise and Revolutionize: Why Successful Midlifers Don't Leave Mornings to Chance

• Stacy M. Lewis & Wayne Dawson • Season 2 • Episode 59

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The morning ritual isn't a luxury but essential soul care, setting you up for daily success and intentionally shaping your entire day. We discuss how to craft a morning routine that energizes your midlife journey and positions you for greater achievements. Coach Stacy and Coach Wayne offer:

• Opening your blinds to let natural light in primes your body and connects you with nature's rhythm
• Mel Robbins' Five Second Rule can help overcome morning inertia—count down 5-4-3-2-1 then get up
• Reframing "I have to get up" to "I get to get up" transforms your morning mindset
• Night preparation sets up morning success—write tomorrow's to-do list before bed
• Consistent wake times help establish natural rhythms and may improve overall health
• Spending 5-10 minutes outdoors boosts your parasympathetic nervous system and reduces stress
• Creating designated places for essential items creates a morning "assembly line" to streamline departures
• Morning rituals should grow with you rather than becoming rigid obligations

Join us next Tuesday for our Season 2 finale, Episode 60! Remember to subscribe, share, like, and hit the notification bell. You are the midlife revolution unleashed.


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💃🏽Stacy M. Lewis
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Wayne:

you've just stepped into the midlife revolution, unleashed your space to ignite possibility, redefine purpose and embrace the power that comes with age and experience, co-hosted by yours truly coach win and I'm coach stacy m lewis, are two-season coaches focused on the midlife community of color.

Stacy:

This isn't just a podcast. It's a movement In a world that sometimes forgets the power and the wisdom that comes with age. We are here to ignite a revolution and rewrite the narrative of this incredible journey.

Wayne:

So, whether you're navigating your career, growing your business, rediscovering passions or challenging the status quo, this is your space. So buckle up, let's dive into the Midlife Revolution Unleashed. Well, hello, hello, it is midlife revolution time again, and today we are hitting the ground running with a morning topic. And before we start that, I am Coach Wayne, the VIP coach. I help men, men of color, navigate midlife so that their second half can be their best half. And with me in the driver's seat is also a fabulous woman, coach Stacey M Lewis.

Stacy:

Well, good evening, good afternoon, good morning, whatever time it is when you are catching this episode of Midlife Revolution Unleashed. Hello, it is so exciting to be here and before I introduce myself, I need to give a super shout out to Michael Rivers. Why? Because he is like love, love, love this, and we love and appreciate you. I am Stacey M Lewis, a nonprofit executive, a midlife women's coach, a lover of God and his people, and I'm always so excited to be here with my co-host, coach Wayne, and talk to our beautiful community of midlifers. What is going on, y'all?

Stacy:

What's up Wayne.

Wayne:

Stacey, today I'm the gingerbread man, as I told you Don't know what's happening with my color, my tone today on the camera here we'll get it fixed after.

Stacy:

You're looking good, man, you're looking good.

Wayne:

Thank you, stacey. Stacey, we're going to talk about morning rituals. We're going to talk about creating routines and habits, because the way you start your morning oftentimes impacts and shape the way that your day ends up. So we wanted to talk about that, because what I have seen in terms of the literature successful people, they don't leave it for chance. They craft their morning routine to get themselves all fired up.

Stacy:

You know, wayne, just listening to you, I wasn't originally planning on going here, but I'm just thinking about back to the spiritual things for just a moment. Right, when we read scripture for those of us that focus on the basic instruction before leaving earth it talks about how Christ rose early right, and even now in today's worship settings people talk about rising early right, seeking God early and one of the wonderful things about morning and the morning routine it's like every day is new, so why not start it in a way that's positioning us for the greatest success? And I think morning rituals, morning habits, really embracing morning and moving through it in a way, allows us to do just that.

Wayne:

Had talked about morning rituals, not just being you know, typically, uh, luxury it's soul care it's, it's taking care of the self, giving yourself permission to get yourself together before starting off with a happen, chance kind of day sort of puts you on the path where you are intentional. For example, stacey, I have as many people do windows in your bedroom, right In my bedroom, and we have big vertical blinds next to a sliding door. But my wife, who gets up before me because she travels away for work, I typically will ask that she opens the blinds and this has become a ritual and you know what it does Having the sunlight come through and being able to see outdoors gets me primed primed, it starts to connect us with nature.

Stacy:

Right, it's the rhythm. The morning comes, there's a rhythm there and we get to jump into the rhythm of the day. I do like the natural light. I love it when the light is creeping in so slightly different. I happen to sleep with, I guess I would say, more sheer curtains, and the morning gracefully comes in. You know, it doesn't start with the bright sunshine. It starts at, like that, 4 am when the birds start to sing and I can feel my body is feeling like, oh, there's light. It doesn't make me wake up, but it's like, okay, I'm getting closer to that wake up time. And the morning rituals matter and I love that you shared just that one simple one of just cranking the blinds open a little bit to let the sun shine in.

Wayne:

Yeah, it also impacts your entire system, your entire system. It impacts the way that your energy flows, depending on how you get up. Mel Robbins has a book out called the Five Second Rule and what she says is this in the morning, when you wake up, start. You know, most of us, we hit the snooze button or we want to just stretch a little bit longer, hold a little bit longer and, unfortunately, browse through the texts and emails a little bit longer. But her argument is within five seconds, start counting down five, four, three, two, one and get up, no matter what. At five second mark, get up and get going, and this does do something for your energy flow. If, for example, stacey, I were to speak with you in the morning and you are laying down, I would think I'm interrupting because it sounds like you're reclining. So, even for the impact of talking to somebody on the phone, never take a business called laying down. Get up and start moving around. It does something to your entire energy and makes you feel like you're up and about, and others too.

Stacy:

So one I appreciate you clarifying that the five second rule is not when you drop some food on the ground and you got to pick it up five seconds, otherwise you can't eat it. I appreciate that clarity, but really the intention that you're talking about allows us to reframe. The fact is not that, oh, I have to get up, right? You're saying that take those five seconds and you get up. It's like I get to get up, and we all know that some didn't get to get up this morning, and so reframing even the morning ritual from I have to to I get to is one way, coupled with that five second rule, is one way to really embrace intention and start right before you rise. Yes, yes.

Wayne:

And today we're throwing out some ideas today that has worked for many people. Many folks have heard of the ice plunge. Right, they get up, they get Tony Robbins I don't know if he still does it Used to do first thing in the morning jump or sit in an ice bath. And wow, I don't do the ice baths, but I will run my shower or not run the shower, just go in and turn it on before it starts warming up, and it's only a few seconds, but it's enough to shock you and have your breathing so shallowly that you know, just you, just your heart is pumping, everything is going. And then you get to skip the coffee because it's a natural wake up for you. But that really works, Stacey, that cold shower and I've tried it in Florida it's not a big deal, Most people could handle it. I've tried it in the New York winter, visiting with my kids and 30 seconds looks like a long time.

Stacy:

Yeah, that feels like a long time, and I will say that Michael appreciates the five-second rule of clarity as well. Right, it's not about picking up stuff off the floor to eat it. It really is about embracing those five seconds and then making something happen, embracing intentionality. And what I think about Wayne is from a coaching perspective. One question that comes to mind is what do you want to feel when you wake up? Right, if I were talking to a client and we were talking about this morning ritual or noticing the absence of a morning ritual, my question would be what do you want to feel when you wake up? And with that, what would help to create that feeling?

Wayne:

Yeah yeah, create that feeling, yeah yeah. So I want to back up a little bit because I want to feel like I am moving with intent and targeting a day and have a program. So there is a prerequisite to the morning ritual and that's the nighttime ritual. In preparing for the morning ritual, let me say that again slowly, in preparation for the morning ritual, there's some things that we could do at night. One is you write your activities, your things to do, your calendar for the next day at night, and that allows you.

Wayne:

And the other thing is make sure that you have a rhythm and a routine so that you're getting up the same time, right. Your body gets accustomed to it. That way you can throw out the alarm clock because you're getting up. And what I want to feel in the morning Stacey is that I have accomplished from the get-go some wins, and so if I get up early, that's a win. If I am able to check off things like my stretch, my exercise, get my shower and shave out of the way, those are wins. And it sets you up for larger wins throughout the rest of the day because you started off with a win or two.

Stacy:

I like that, coach Wayne. At the same time, the one thing I want to feel in the morning, outside of peace, is appreciation, is gratitude, is appreciation, is gratitude. And so I love the idea of the list and hello, judy, thank you for joining us this evening and, at the same time, I love being able to to wake up and take a really deep breath and appreciate the fact that I'm alive, and so, for me that morning, I'd like that morning to feel like peace and gratitude, and peace possibility. Right. So, then, I love that. It's funny because I'm debating with myself about the list versus the few minutes to just explore the possibilities what are the possibilities of the day? And so I think that what we're saying in a nutshell is that there are various opportunities to decide what your morning ritual is going to be, and really thinking about what you want to feel when you wake up is one way to actively help you get there one way to actively help you get there.

Wayne:

Yeah, yeah, I don't know just how much scientific evidence bears this out, but it is said that folks who have later schedules for getting up, people who, for example, in the New York metro that works overnight consistently or in any job, tend to be prone to illnesses more so than folks who sleep. And that has to do. I think the argument in conversation is with your circadian rhythm and it supposedly allows us to fall asleep like the rest of nature when the sun goes down and get our deepest level of rest, restorative rest during a certain period of that cycle where our hormones and everything about our body is preparing to restore us for the next day. So typically, folks who sleep later have a sense of lag when the day has started and they're just getting up and supposedly are more prone to colds and flus and other illnesses.

Stacy:

Hmm, that's very interesting. Yeah it stays yeah.

Stacy:

I'm gonna ponder that one, wayne. I'm gonna ponder that one. I don't really know where to go with that one. What it reminds me of, though, is that art, if you're, if you're not kind of moving right, then you're not really taking the opportunities, you're not seizing the day, you're not right, and so it's almost akin to and maybe I misinterpret, but it's almost akin to. You know well, not only does the slow bird not catch the worm, but, you know, the slower you are, the slower your body becomes, and so, again, I don't know if I interpreted that correctly, but I do think that it works in alignment with what we know about how the body works, and we really get to rise and make something happen, and not and it could be in line with that rhythm, right, with the circadian rhythm of your rest and then the morning rhythm of your rising, and really making sure that you are embracing both and giving them the attention that they need.

Wayne:

Yeah, yeah, to Judy's point, Stacey, and you're right about the rhythms. To Judy's point when you take your notes and you do some pre-prep before, because there are people who go to sleep and they're up at night counting, counting in their heads and figuring out their plan for the next day, when you put it down and you've planned it and set it aside, it allows you to have that sense of ease and relief when you go in to get your slumber, so you're not up trying to figure out what I got to do tomorrow morning. It's already done. I get that the same color suits and shirts every day to avoid having to think about waste energy and time thinking about well, what do I put on this morning, that timeframe that you're worried about, what mood you're in and what you want to wear. They're already dressed and starting to do business, making their first million in the office at home, while we're still in the closet figuring out what tie goes with what shoe.

Stacy:

Well, I will embrace you and Judy's thinking about or you're in Judy's thinking about making a list or jotting down some things at night. I will not embrace wearing the same thing and the same colors every day. That's where I draw the line, sir, but thank you for that insight. Clearly, if that's going to be the loss of life and livelihood but that's just me, wayne. That's just me.

Wayne:

Yeah, but I know this to be true. Having a place, a routine place, where you place your briefcase, where you place your keys, your glasses, your credit card or wallets or whatever you're using, is also important and beautiful to have in your morning ritual.

Wayne:

That way, when you're stepping out, you just simply walk along the assembly line, as it were, and pick things up, and so you're not at the front door wondering oh my gosh, what did I forget? Oh, I got to go back up. Now, where did I put my wallet, which many of us listening on this can attest to? You know, where's my glasses? I knew I left it right there, but that's because we don't have a ritual, and so what I'm suggesting is that, even in terms of placement, that you have a ritual for your assembly line of things that you have to accomplish in the morning before you get going.

Stacy:

I like it. I definitely like it and recognize that. You know you're going to use that briefcase, or if you know you need your glasses, then build a routine around those items so that you, you know where they are. I think we can also transition to the idea of coupling opportunities in your morning routine. Idea of coupling opportunities in your morning routine. And, of course, the one that always comes to me and the one I like the most is walking the dog. Yes, I have a little dog. His name is Bernardo, he's cute, cute, cute and he is one of the reasons that I walk so much every day. But what I get to couple that dog walk with is time to be really mindful and present. You know, sometimes I do a walking prayer, but really thinking, that's probably when I catch up with you and Judy, you know that's when I'm thinking about okay, here are a few things I need to accomplish today, so I couple my dog walk with my mindful moment. Maybe I'll catch some birds in the process.

Wayne:

Yeah, birds. So now that's important too. It is a real deal to be out there or expose yourself to nature Natural lights, of course, which is the sunlight, plus the benefit of the vitamin D that we get to get us going. But, as you said, stacey, walking outside with your dog, that's nature, and I'll tell you there is a thinking and a movement around grounding. If you live in a space where it's private enough you don't want to do this in a public space with all that's going on on the street. It is suggested that you should go out barefooted and just touch the ground. I know, growing up in Jamaica, we walked barefooted a lot in the backyard and in the yard and, of course, you trained your own dog so you didn't have to worry about poo.

Wayne:

But you don't want to be doing that, you know, in the public space Plus people just look at you like you're going crazy, but there's something about standing in the sun bare feet and feeling, literally feeling like a vibrational energy going through you and, just as they call it, grounding you.

Stacy:

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yes, as they call it, grounding you. Yes, again, it's that reminder of being present, right, that you are actually feeling yourself standing foot planted feet planted on the earth, and how does that empower you to move forward? When we were talking about listening to the birds, one of the things that we realized is that there's some research out there that doing so listening to the birds actually boosts your parasympathetic nerve system, and so that boost in that nervous system begins to calm or mitigate your stress, and so that's free. You can step outside and listen to the birds and have a little bonus in your parasympathetic nervous system, and it's free and you're a little more calm nervous system and it's free and you're a little more calm.

Wayne:

Yeah, music as well. Stacy this is beautiful and you know we talk about the birds in terms of natural sounds and music and that's powerful. Um, if you live somewhere close to the water, uh, some people run against the beach. Or I have a natural, artificial fountain, a natural fountain or an artificial fountain in a natural looking pond and just just having the pond go off with the water.

Stacy:

You know yeah it feels good.

Wayne:

it makes me feel at peace and at ease, and it's good if you're going to start your morning like that quelled and calm and serene, before you get into the rustling hustle of the day's activities and the traffic. So, morning rituals are important.

Stacy:

Yeah and we don't want to. We can both relate to the days when we had small children at home or, you know, had to get to the birds or watching the little ducks in the pond, that you don't have a good morning routine. One thing to do is to really challenge yourself and think about how can you spend five or 10 minutes every morning outdoors, if possible, really just being, and so if it means that you know, maybe you can walk out the door to your car five minutes earlier and just, even if it's just sitting in the car right before you start driving, to give yourself that opportunity to breathe and be is a great thing to challenge oneself with.

Wayne:

I posted, actually across one of the walls in my bathroom, a vision board that I had worked on with Audrey earlier this year, and so, even as I'm brushing my teeth, if I look in the mirror I look back I can see the vision board. What does that do? It helps to reinforce what I'm living for, my mission, my purpose, my drive, my vision, and I see it at night too, of course, but I'm more intentional with it in the morning.

Stacy:

Mention.

Wayne:

Stacey, the gratitude. It's so important that we start off with gratitude. Just to be grateful for putting your feet on the floor is something worth giving up. Thanks for right.

Stacy:

Absolutely. And how can you use those moments, whether it be that walk outside, that standing in the sun, as your zero thinking or your transition time again, time to just be? I think that we get so caught up in the hustle of every day that we don't take the time to be, and once that day is off and running, it's hard to get that pause in there. So if you can get it in in the morning, consider doing so, for sure it is starting that day right.

Wayne:

Yeah, I've oftentimes told people and said to myself that I'm a night owl. Well, I don't know, there's nothing to really brag about, to be honest with you, because at a certain point in time your mind is exhausted because you can just process so much and no more. And I like the quiet because I get to, in my mind, work. But I realize that I'm kind of fooling myself because I'm not that productive even though there's no noise, because I'm tired and I'm rewriting or rereading the same line several times. I realize this to be true and it's a different kind of sleep, stacey, when you fall asleep on the couch and then go to your bed or sleep the whole night there, or you know what I mean. It's a different kind of sleep when you're in your space, your comfy bed, warmer, whatever works for you, and going through deep sleep, which is important again for getting that alpha and theta brain wave and for folks who really go deep and start dreaming and going through their Delta waves. It's so important that we go through all that process.

Stacy:

Yeah, and it's so funny how we can get so caught up in those night, those late nights, that we forget that we're really running on diminished returns. Like you said, you'll read the same sentence three times. And then, how does that late night really impact your morning ritual or your desire to have a morning ritual? You're already going to wake up, probably more tired. Back to the thing we talked about at the very beginning, right? You'll feel like, oh, I have to get up now, as opposed to I get to get up now and so, yeah, really recognizing that those those being a night owl on occasion works. Yet you really want to be mindful of how it impacts the rest of your ritual and what you're actually accomplishing when you are hooting in the nighttime.

Wayne:

Yeah, and you know we go back to helping yourself get that morning up early and movement together by cutting off the time that you eat at night. Make sure you're not eating especially heavy stuff after a certain hour. And the caffeine Some folks, some evenings I've had a long day which shouldn't be happening in the States. If you just had a full night's sleep we really shouldn't have to have after we get up, that coffee which is probably in most of our cases more a habit now than a necessity, and the withdrawal is difficult. You stop, you know you get the headaches and stuff. But when you have a really good night's sleep you should be able to go on that oxygen and rest. But we become enslaved to the caffeine. But don't do the caffeine after a certain hour in the evening because it kind of takes you back into not sleeping well at night.

Stacy:

I agree with you on the nighttime caffeine for our Midlife Revolution Unleashed community. This is Wayne's quiet way of trying to get me to drink less coffee in the morning. So we want to encourage you all to let your ritual grow with you. The idea here is not to be rigid and is not to beat yourself up if you try something new a couple of times and then you fall off that proverbial wagon. Fall off that proverbial wagon, but to really acknowledge that, whatever it is, whatever practice you embrace as you go through your building, your morning rituals, that the ritual is there to serve you, right, the actions, the behaviors, the time, the gratitude, the fresh air. Behaviors, the time, the gratitude, the fresh air, the sunshine, the birds singing all there to serve you. And that as seasons change, your morning ritual might change as well. But let the ritual grow with you and not make it some rigid or legalistic type of thing.

Wayne:

And.

Stacy:

I will not be giving up the coffee in the morning.

Wayne:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't feel like it's work and it gets punitive. It should be fun. It should just be normative and a sort of flow. We talk about rhythm, right, it should just be a flow, a natural thing. Stacey, we should let folks know that next week Tuesday we have a guest, but we won't say what and who. But also it brings us to the end of our second round, or second season of Midnight of Midlife Revolution Unleashed. Do you need some sleep?

Stacy:

Yes, it is exciting. This is episode 59 of Midlife Revolution Unleashed and next week we will be airing live episode 60, which will be the season two finale episode. So we will do our job of promoting and we encourage our listening community, our viewing community, to share. When you see the promotions start to kick off, share. We would love to really celebrate the end of season two of the Midlife Revolution Unleashed with each of you. So make sure you get your rest in the morning, wayne. How would we like to wrap up this episode today?

Wayne:

Well, I want to thank on Facebook Zoe Rico for jumping in and sharing with us part of our stuff, and everybody else who we have on today. Thank you for being a part of this experience. We can't do it without you.

Stacy:

That's right. Keep, keep sharing, remember. You know, today we really talked about commanding your morning, and the idea here was really to make sure that you take the most opportunity, the best opportunity to seize the richness of your morning. And so think about what is one thing you can do Maybe it's outdoors this week this part of your morning or, as Wayne said earlier, your evening routine, and what is one activity you will begin to weave into your morning ritual.

Wayne:

Yep, yep, stace, how do the good folks get some of your wonderful transformative coaching?

Stacy:

Well, I would say, wayne, if they are bold enough to maybe even share a picture of themselves doing their morning ritual, I will make sure that I incorporate some kind of bonus, but I can be reached at thestacymlewiscom. If you are connected to me already on LinkedIn and on Facebook or YouTube, please don't hesitate to reach out. I would always love to just have a beautiful, connecting conversation with sisters in order to help them rise. So, wayne, what say you, sir?

Wayne:

DM your coach, DM your guy, and you can email me at wayndawsonvip at gmailcom. Of course, you can also hit me off on any of the channels that I'm on If you go through my website, viptransformativelivingcom.

Stacy:

Yes, indeed, we are here to be of service. We thank you so much for joining us tonight on Midlife Revolution Unleashed. Remember that you are the revolution. We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you again.

Wayne:

Yep, we'll catch up with you next time. Have a good one.

Stacy:

Bye Wayne.

Wayne:

And there you have it, folks. This week's episode of the Midlife Revolution Unleashed. Hey, we truly appreciate your spending this time in this space with us. Join us next week at the same time as we dive into relevant topics and present solutions to spark new thinking and empower your midlife journey new thinking and empower your midlife journey.

Stacy:

And don't forget if you enjoyed today's episode, let us know in the comments and share it with others. And, of course, remember to subscribe, share like, hit that notification bell. You are the midlife revolution unleashed. I'm coach Stacy and I'm cheering you on.

Wayne:

And I'm Coach Wayne and I'll see you at the top.