Summer means long evenings spent outdoors but don’t go to bed so late you miss out on the joy of an early summer’s morning. Make like the Swedes and go gökotta…
The Scandinavians seem to have single-handedly cornered the wellbeing market in recent years, thanks in part to their knack for coining words for some fairly random activities. First there was hygge, then there was lykke and lagom and now there’s gökotta, a Swedish word that literally translates to “rising at dawn to listen to bird song.”
But getting up early doesn’t have to <just> be about the dawn chorus. Here are a few more ways to go gökotta and make the most of early rising this summer.
Have a breakfast picnic somewhere beautiful. The beach, a nearby hill, someone’s garden… If you need any more inspiration, read our feature Morning Has Broken in the July issue of The Simple Things.
Have a quiet chat with your garden. While there’s still dew on the grass, get out and enjoy your garden in a different light. It will thank you for watering it nice and early too, before the sun can scorch the leaves.
Write morning pages. If you’ve not heard of this, it’s the practice of writing three sides of A4 (long hand not typed) each morning before you do anything else. The idea is that you catch yourself before you are fully conscious so you write without any filter, about what really matters to you. Give it a go - you could have a novel by next year!
Make overnight oats. A hearty and wholesome breakfast that is all ready for you in the fridge always makes us smile. Prepare the night before (the internet is full of recipe ideas or turn to page 9 of our July issue for our recipe for banoffee overnight oats) and then grab them from the fridge at 6am and eat them in your pyjamas in the garden.
Read. With more of us working from home these days, many of us have lost the time we spent reading on a commute. And finding time in a busy day to sit down with a book is always hard. Set your alarm just half an hour earlier than you usually would and ringfence that time for reading.
Exercise like nobody’s watching (because they’re all still in bed). If you’re just starting out as a runner or cyclist and feel a little self conscious, try going at 6am when the streets are quiet. Heck, why not go the whole hog and go rollerskating or Nordic walking? In the early morning, you have no one to answer to (and no one to laugh if you fall over).
Be the first in the bakery queue. There’s nothing like the pleasure of a loaf, warm out of the oven. And is that an almond croissant you’re just getting out too? Yes, two of those please!
Start a secret hobby. When you’re up before everyone else, you can do all sorts of things no one knows about… spend an hour in the early hours learning a new language, taking an online art class or getting really good at yoga. In a few months you’ll have the pleasure of leaving friends and family open-mouthed as you order your dinner in Catalan/hang a painting on the wall you created/do an impressive headstand.
Get serious about coffee. We never said early rising was easy, but caffeine always makes it a bit less of a wrench, and a fancy aeropress or cafetiere and a bag of really good coffee will make hearing your alarm go off a joy. Or you could try making your own tea blends with dried herbs and flowers from your garden. Whatever your morning tipple, you can make it a bit of a special event, and spend a while savouring it alone.
Indulge in a bit of water therapy. Go for a swim as soon as the pool opens, have a long soak in the bath or take a cold shower and feel your skin zing. Immersing yourself in water is a wonderful ritual that benefits both body in mind as you wash away the day and the night before and begin the day feeling cleansed and new.
If you’re feeling inspired to make the most of your early mornings, you might like to buy a copy of our new Everyday Anthology. Featuring good food, forgotten wisdom, mindfulness and microadventures, projects and pastimes, it’s a dip-in guide to dawn, day, dusk and dark.
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