Hello and welcome to the Slow Home podcast. My name is Brooke McCallory. My name is Ben McCallory. Welcome to

episode three of season nine. And good morning for those of you that are listening to this bright and early.

Very good. Little hint on the topic in today's episode.

I'm fascinated with this.

You speak with Amanda Ewan.

I do.

About mornings and being a morning person.

I do.

Are you a morning person?

I am now.

You've been a morning person, I think, for at least a decade.

Yeah, but I have like a love-hate relationship with it.

So I spent a lot of time weirdly thinking about my relationship with mornings lately.

And so when the kids were really little, I would get up routinely at 4 a.m.

Simply to have time to myself, like quiet time to myself.

And Amanda and I talk about this a bit, actually.

It took me a while to realize that that wasn't necessarily sustainable,

but it was what I needed at that moment in order to, you know, function and feel somewhat kind of satisfied in my need for quiet.

And since then, I've really kind of gone in and out of early starts and having sort of set rituals and rhythms to the

morning and then not. And I think really looking back at it that those ups and downs have come

along with health issues and challenges. You know, when I'm feeling okay, I typically love

getting up in the morning and having that time to myself to, you know, when I'm feeling okay, I typically love getting up in the morning and having that time to

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