Tag: routine

QOTD My Unique Morning Routine: Managing Life Post-Strokes

Andy YoungLeave a comment

Tell us about your morning routine.

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When people ask about a morning routine, they usually expect a speech about productivity, 5 AM alarms, and commuting. If I leave out the details, it sounds like I’m just living a life of leisure—which isn’t quite the reality.

Thanks to a past stroke and a few persistent neurological complications, standard work isn’t on the cards for me. My days involve a team of carers calling in four times a day to keep the gears turning. So, my “routine” isn’t built around a 9-to-5 hustle; it’s built around managing energy, pacing myself, and structuring my day into four-hour chunks between medication calls.

Here is what a realistic morning actually looks like:

  1. The Wake-Up: I wake up at 7:00 AM every day. It takes me a while to get going and make my way to the kitchen.
  2. The Drink Run: I get the coffee machine going, and while that’s brewing, I make a cup of tea. Because I use a walking stick in one hand, I take them through to the lounge one at a time.
  3. The Morning Chat: By the time the drinks are through, the birds have noticed I’m awake, so we have a quick chat before I officially open up the lounge for business.
  4. The Four-Hour Timer: I move to the sofa and fire up a background stream (usually someone trying not to die in Project Zomboid). Shortly after, the first carer arrives for morning medication—and as soon as they leave, my four-hour timer starts until the next call.

It’s a bit nyeh but it works.

Dark Mornings, 2000s Nostalgia, and the 20kg Drop

Andy Young1 Comment

It’s 7:00 AM and pitch black outside. Autumn has officially arrived in Bolton, and the flat is completely quiet. Even Mojo and Blobette were still sound asleep on their perches when I walked into the lounge this morning. Once they woke up and had their breakfast, Blobette decided it was time for a full-on morning spa session in the water dish. After all that vigorous splashing and preening, both of them are completely exhausted and back up on their top perch, puffed up and dozing off to dry their feathers. It’s funny how watching two little birds go about their morning routine sets a nice, calm pace for the rest of the day.

Looking around the quiet flat this morning got me thinking about how different blogging was back in the early 2000s. Back then, there was zero pressure to drive traffic, optimize titles, or appease some mysterious social media algorithm. It was just dumping raw, unfiltered thoughts onto a page, sharing tiny daily observations, and seeing who happened to stumble by and leave a comment. I might even dig through the Wayback Machine one of these days to see if my old site from back then is still archived somewhere in the depths of the web. It would be a laugh to see what I was rambling on about twenty-odd years ago.

Speaking of routines, I’ve been making a real effort to reset my space. Over the past couple of days, I’ve vacuum-sealed all my summer gear—blankets, shorts, the lot—and stashed the bedding box under the bed. The comic boxes have been rearranged so the room actually looks organised, and I finally hung my canvas photo of Manchester on the bedroom wall. It’s amazing what a difference a bit of order makes to your head. I was thinking about sorting through my clothes next, but I held off for now.

The reason for holding off on the wardrobe clear-out is that my body is still changing. Two months ago, I was sitting at 143kg. Today, I’m down to 120kg. Seeing that number steadily drop toward my 100kg goal feels huge. I’m shifting my food cutoff to 7:00 PM now—not for any fancy health trend or reason, but just so I actually wake up with a genuine appetite for breakfast. Re-learning the difference between real hunger and eating out of habit or routine is an ongoing project, but seeing 20kg vanish makes it feel worth sticking with.

Do you notice your routine shifting as the mornings get darker, or do you stick to the exact same schedule year-round?

Fall leaves
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Here I go again.

Andy YoungLeave a comment

I can’t say that without singing the song with it heeeeeeeeere I gooo again on my owwwwwn. I haven’t been able to do a post in a while as a few things happened in between last Thursday and now, so you’ve had second-rate posts and qotd.

So last Thursday I had an appointment with a consultant (mental health) which was years overdue. I remember little of the meeting except I siesuered up at some point and then suddenly back in the room with a scared consultant. I managed to get back to the relative safety of “Das Motel”. Next thing I know I’m awake on the floor and my face is fucking killing. It transpires that I passed out, banged my head and then managed to carpet-burn my face on the course carpet. Then proceeded to have the most fucked up morning of my life.

One second I was on my knees looking for things to bring to D’s house. Then she phoned me. Then I started getting scared. Then D was in the hotel room and stood behind me asking questions. If I was going to be there yet. Next flash. I’m suddenly on the road, I’m near the motorway. I don’t need the motorway. Blackout. Next flash about 20 minutes down the motorway. WTF am I doing here? Blackout. Cars beeping horns. I slammed on the brakes a lot, and my chest was sore from the seat belt. Suddenly I’m at D’s house. Then a knock at the door with a police officer standing there. “A lot of worried people have been looking for you. You don’t have your medication or your phone”. Then I was just talking gibberish at this point. The officer took me back to the motel and left the car outside of D’s house. I refused to go to the hospital despite his protests as my head was pretty dinged up. Agree for an ambulance to check me over. He waited with me till he was called onto his next job. He told the food truck I was sitting next to, to keep an eye on me. Same with the reception staff so I don’t wander off somewhere dangerous.

The brain slowly destressing. Hands working. Text D back that I’m alive and I am thankful she called the police when she couldn’t get hold of me. So. This triggered a few things. 1. not allowed out for a while, 2. if I have a seizure I need to sit somewhere and not move. The following Monday I had an army of phone calls from different agencies. My main one called me and told me he had the police report and that I was driving around randomly on the motorway network. They were tracking me on the ANPR cameras all the way home. No action was taken but no license. The doctor phoned and we talked for a good 30 minutes going over things, he said he has to tell the driving agency that I can’t drive with my FND condition, they can’t take the risk of it happening again. It was a miracle in the first place that no one was hurt. He raised a good point, he asked “Do you even remember getting into the car?” and no, I don’t, which is scary.

So that’s that. I’m seeing the consultant again this Friday and he’s bringing a friend. This is awesome because it went so well stressing out about it last time that it triggered me. If I’m getting blackout vibes then I’m cancelling.

That is why I haven’t posted till now as I can’t remember a lot of the things that happened that night and day. The stuff I do remember is all disjointed and like a gap in my memory. Sure that’s going to bite me in the arse one day in a flashback.

I’ll ease myself back into blogging. Should help maintain routine which has got me through the past week. Today I woke up really dizzy and it’s not gone away. So I accepted today would be an off day where I do things that calm me down. Like looking at the trading card collection I’m mid-sorting out. Masterchef, music, lots and lots of music.

Hope you’ve all had a good weekend.


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