On the importance of breakfasting early

"What have we always said is the most important thing?"

"Breakfast?"

"Family."

"Oh, I thought you meant of the things you eat."

--Arrested Development

For three days in a row, I've eaten breakfast. This is a new habit. Much as I love breakfast food--and I do... just now I felt my temperature rise at the thought of a crab cake eggs benedict and well-done hash browns. Orange juice. Coffee. Distraction. NOM.

Crab cake benedict's evil twin.

Typically, if I eat at all in the morning, I don't eat until after I arrive at work. That's at least two or three hours beyond the time I roll out of bed into whatever clothes are closest in the floor pile, and stumble down the sidewalk to the bus. Mornings are a terrible time full of life-long disappointment, racing pulses, nightmarish sunshine, and the further drift of my dream to write in the morning. 

If my body is lucky, I cram a Pop Tart and Diet Coke down my maw while on the bus. I spend my ride to work entirely manic about bus people and leaves on trees and shit, until the bubbling sugar maelstrom in my stomach erupts and my nervous system collapses just as the manager who jogs at 6 AM is shouting hello.

No caption; too real.

Recently the synchronicity of the universe winked at me, beckoning to dine early. I read about sleep cycles, and how the easiest way to reset your cycle is to fast for 8 to 10 hours, then eat. Body uses this marker as "morning! awake!" Sleep later, allotting 8 hours of sleep before your breakfast time, and tada, suddenly waking up in the morning isn't such a shit show. After I read this, my sidekick walked into the room, turned on the light (I often sit in dark rooms; I am moody) and it was like a real life epiphany.

The next day our local grocery store had a sale on Chex, so I bought 10 of them. Go hard.

Eating cereal for breakfast is a crap idea--poor nutrition, false energy--but you know what? It's a start. And here I am, a living goddamn testament to the power of morning feeding. I have twenty minutes before I need to even leave for work and I've painted my nails, written this blog post, listened to half a Tom Waits album, and dressed in clothes that I haven't already worn twice this week.

Who cares if I have to drink coffee for the next eight hours because I got up too early? I'm awake!

Now, though I don't seem to be doing it with any regularity, I seem to have started this a to z blogging challenge. You may have noticed. Or you may be so shocked by a second post in as many days that you didn't notice anything out of the ordinary because it's all out of the ordinary. I intended to write on something more spiritually interesting today--Practicing the Art of Banishment--but as it turns out, I have several feelings about breakfast, and I'm out of time. Stay tuned, true believers.