Whether you’re one of the many people who want to become a ‘morning person’ or are just looking for a way to add more of your fan side of life into your morning routine, I’ve got some ideas for you. ^-^
For me, I’d like to become a more consistent morning person. I can get up early on occasion, but… I’ve never been able to make it sustainable. So, at the time of writing, I’m putting these down as theories I’m going to try myself to help get myself up earlier and living that ‘morning person life’ with the aid of some of my favourite stories. (If you’d like to hear what did work for me, email me or contact me via another route to let me know you’d like to see a report/follow up post to this.)
If you’ve already got this ‘morning person’ thing under control and are just looking for new ways to add that little bit of extra fan side of life into your routine, I hope you’ll find something here that’ll help you or that will inspire you in some way.
One more quick thing before we get onto the tips. I’ve created a set of printables to help us with our new morning/evening routines. I, personally, have to write new routines down so that I can reference my notes and remind myself of what my new routine is supposed to be until it becomes habit and then I can file or throw away the old notes.
Tip 1 – Getting to bed on time.
This is actually really important so that we can have enough sleep and still get up at the early hour we want to. So, work back from the time you’d like to be getting up at and find what time your bedtime should be.
With that time in place, we can now begin scheduling the rest of our evening routines so that we’re able to be going to sleep at the required time.
When I’ve done research on ‘becoming a morning person’, I’ve seen that some people gradually back up their bed and get up times (e.g. by 15 minutes). So if you’d prefer to try that, please do. I’m going to attempt the hard-core switch. (Which is typical for me…)
Below you’ll find ideas for what could be included in an evening routine. Feel free to develop your own, but just remember the aim of this evening routine is to help you ‘wind down’ and relax before going to bed.
Evening Routine:
• Set out your outfit for the next day.
• Finalise your plan/to-do list for the next day.
• Breakfast prep ~ This is only essential if your preferred breakfast needs a little work the day before.
(E.g. Overnight oats or prepping toppings for a mini pizza.)
• Bath/shower.
• Watch an episode or part of an episode of one of your favourite series. (Preferably one you’ve watched before that won’t stimulate your mind too much and, maybe, also a really chill episode.) Alternatively, read a little of a favourite book/manga or maybe listen to some slower songs from your favourite story’s playlist. (Or all of the above; you choose. ^-^)
• Pre-bed stretch routine.
Tip 2 – Getting up on time.
This will be our next challenge, after getting to bed early…
The old classic of setting an alarm can work (just make sure you don’t hit the snooze button and make sure you get up pretty much immediately… I speak from experience on that last one…). Though, if you can, jazz up your alarm by using your phone. Put a song you like onto your phone and set it as your alarm tone. (Currently, I’ve got Starmyu’s ‘Wonderful Wonder’ as my alarm tone; I need songs that start gradually or else they really give me a bad fright when the alarm goes off.)
Another thing to add to your phone would be a lock screen picture that you’re happy to see when your alarm goes off. (Mine is, currently, the Touken Ranbu one you can find in the Touken Ranbu downloads on this blog. I really like the colours. ^-^)
Something else that may aid us in getting up is to see if our favourite characters have any particular morning routine habits. We can adopt some of these for ourselves and, maybe, these will aid us in getting up earlier/quicker. (This could also work if they have any pre-bed routines for your evening routine. I actually only know of one character who does something before he goes to bed and that’s Kinjou from Yowamushi Pedal; he does back extensions and sit-ups before going to bed.)
For me, the one morning habit that sticks in my mind the most that I read on the Starmyu wikia is
Akatsuki’s ~ he goes through the day’s schedule in his head before getting up so he can move efficiently. While he’s not my favourite character, I feel he definitely has something here.
Tip 3 – Have something to look forward to.
This one kind of ties into the previous one. By having something you’re looking forward to that day,
particularly if it’s occurring in the morning, can help you get out of bed quicker. Most of the time, we don’t have something occurring in our lives that is so exciting that it can get us out of bed super early. Ergo, we have to be intentional and create those things to look forward to every day.
Here’s a little list of things that could be things to look forward to:
• Watching an episode of the newest anime you’ve recently started. (This could be a good way to keep
watching new anime even if your daily schedule is super packed. Set a little time aside in the morning to watch your episode and relax, maybe while having breakfast, before getting started with your day.)
• Fun breakfasts. (See Tip 5 for more.)
• Me time (or ani-me time? …Too much of a stretch there? XD). As part of your new morning routine,
you could set aside a little time for yourself to get your day started the way you want it to be. As
mentioned earlier, you could watch an episode, read a few manga pages, do some anime journaling,
another hobby or whatever it is that you want to do. This is your time in the morning; your reward for
getting up early, so use it as you wish. (You could even do this twice a day; once in the morning with the new things and once in the evening, as part of your evening routine, with the old things… Just a
thought…)
• Wearing an inspired outfit. (Create an outfit using what you have in your wardrobe, which is inspired by your favourite character/series.)
• Celebrating a favourite character’s birthday. (This doesn’t, necessarily, happen every day, but it’s an
option.)
• A fun surprise. (Interpret this as you wish, but I do recommend coming back next week to see what I had in mind for this concept. ;))
Tip 4 – Morning Music.
Having a variety of songs from your favourite stories playing in the background can make the time you spend getting dressed and making your bed a little more enjoyable.
If your preferred stories don’t have music, create your own playlist/collection of songs you feel reflect that story and its characters.
For me, I tend to listen to different songs almost every morning, depending on how I’m feeling. Though, mostly, I seem to gravitate to songs either by characters I’m particularly fond of (Kao Kai ~ Wonderful Wonder; Kaito ~ Limited Sky) or ‘energetic’/’positive mood setting’ songs (Starmyu Musical – Kick Start, Haikyuu intros).
Tip 5 – Breakfast/Meals.
Another thing to help you get out of bed quicker may be the allure of a delicious and fun breakfast or meal waiting for you to make it that day. Create your own menu, theming your dishes to your favourite stories to add that ‘fun’ element. Below, you’ll find examples of some breakfast/meal concepts I tried out. Feel free to copy them or use them as inspiration for your own menu!
Starmyu Inspired
For Starmyu, I drew from Team Otori for inspiration:
• Omelette with chilli flakes ~ Nayuki. (Yellow and he likes spicy food; the chilli flakes weren’t too spicy so I could work with that. ^-^)
• Red and Green Cabbage ~ Kuga and Hoshitani.
• Cherry tomatoes ~ Tengenji.
• Strawberries and blueberries ~ Tsukigami. (‘Blue’ and Kaito likes strawberry milk. ^-^)
Fan Side Recipe Rating:
• Health: 4/5. (I’m only docking the 1 point for the frying of the omelette.)
• Ease: Easy.
• Speed: Quick – roughly 20 minutes total.
SK8 Inspired
For SK8, I drew from Joe’s Italian restaurant and some of the characters’ motifs. For me, liking bell peppers on pizza, Adam and Joe’s motifs were the first to come to mind. These little pizzas were home-made frozen bases with the following toppings:
• Adam = BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, red bell pepper.
• Joe = Tomato sauce, cheddar cheese, green bell pepper.
Here’s the recipe for the bases:
(Ingredients)
• Cake Flour – 2 cups. (Plus extra for kneading and rolling out.)
• Baking Powder – 7.5ml.
• Salt – 2.5ml.
• Water – ¾ cup.
• Oil – 30ml.
(Method)
• Preheat oven to 200°C and grease baking sheet(s).
• Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
• Add water and oil and mix until combined.
• Turn out onto a floured surface; sprinkle top of dough with flour and flour your hands too. Knead for 2 minutes.
• Divide dough into 8 (roughly) even-sized balls and then flatten out into mini pizza bases using a rolling pin or other sturdy rolling item (e.g. very sturdy plastic cup); be sure to flour your surface and the top of your dough/rolling item well. (You can decide how thick/thin you want your mini pizzas.)
• Place onto baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes.
• Place onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before freezing.
• To freeze: place each mini pizza base into a wax paper ‘envelope’ (literally just a strip of wax paper cut to fold over the mini pizza base, ‘enveloping’ it; this is to keep them from sticking together). Then place all your ‘wrapped’ bases into a freezer bag or freezer safe container before placing in freezer.
• To cook: Preheat oven to 200°C and grease a baking sheet. Take base(s) from freezer, place on baking sheet, apply toppings of choice and bake for ±5 minutes.
Fan Side Recipe Rating:
• Health: 3/5.
• Ease: Easy.
• Speed: Quick – 10 minutes. (For cooking from frozen finished bases.)
Touken Ranbu Inspired
For Touken Ranbu, I took inspiration from the traditional Japanese aspect of the game/show. Going
clockwise from the top left: brown rice, salad (containing baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and carved
carrots), baked fish (this was hake seasoned with salt and pepper), and soup (cabbage, green/spring onions ~ white parts cooked in and the greens used as a garnish, diced and carved carrots, beef broth ~ a plant-based powdered one).
Fan Side Recipe Rating:
• Health: 4/5.
• Ease: Easy.
• Speed: Moderate – 40 minutes (mostly for the rice).
Kuroko no Basuke Inspired
For Kuroko no Basuke, we’ve got all of the Generation of Miracles, plus Kagami represented in this
smoothie bowl.
Starting from the top left and going counter-clockwise:
• Akashi – Strawberries.
• Kagami – Raspberries. (In the future, I’d probably replace these with cherries.)
• Kise – Pineapple.
• Midorima – Green Grapes.
• Aomine – Blueberries.
• Murasakibara – Red Grapes.
• Kuroko – Litchis.
• Basketball (a.k.a. the smoothie beneath everything) – Frozen pineapple and fresh carrot that I blitzed
together in a food processor.
Fan Side Recipe Rating:
• Health: 5/5.
• Ease: Easy.
• Speed: Quick.
Cells at Work Inspired
For Cells at Work, I drew on the colours seen on the cells’ uniforms in the anime. Several cells share or have similar colours so I went with that.
We have a combination of:
• Strawberries.
• Raspberries. (Again, will sub with cherries next time; this was my first time eating fresh raspberries and I found that I didn’t really like them too much. Flavour’s great, just the texture wasn’t what I like.)
• Green and red grapes.
• Blueberries.
• Gooseberries. (This was my first time trying these and… I don’t recommend them; I’ll omit them next time… They do look pretty, but… I didn’t enjoy the taste…)
• Litchis.
• (Would have included black berries for Killer T, but couldn’t find any…)
Fan Side Recipe Rating:
• Health: 5/5.
• Ease: Easy.
• Speed: Quick – roughly 20 minutes, depending on how fast you can prep your fruits.
Reminders
• All these tips will not help unless we apply ourselves and are intentional and determined to achieve this ‘goal'.
• Each of us is unique. Our living/life situations are going to be specific to us and we need to work within those parameters.
• Don’t be over-whelmed by my suggestions here, particularly in regards to the recipes. Be creative with your own menu and create inspired meals that work for you.
I hope that this post gave you some ideas or inspiration on how to use your favourite stories to help you get up earlier and/or include a little more of your fan side of life in your daily routine. If any of these tips do aid you, let me know by Contacting me. Also, I’d love to see what creative breakfasts or meals you come up with! If you’d like, you can send me pictures of your creations via my gmail or use the #fansidemenu and/or #fansideoflife hashtag to help me find it on Twitter.
Until next time, keep enjoying your fan side of life!
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