Morning Mindset After Abuse
- Jul 9
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 18
Even the Tortoise Was Ready to Go
It was a rainy morning. A little tortoise, standing at a rainy window. Pressed up against the glass. Stretched up and eager.
Not looking at the window. Looking past it.
Rain or no rain, he was ready to go.
Hello Beautiful Souls 💜
I was going through a hard stretch when I came across that image. The kind of stretch where getting through each day took everything you had.
I had started waking up early, before my boys, before the noise and the needs of the day began. Not because I was organised. Because I needed a few minutes where nothing was required of me yet.
I was trying to find something in those early mornings. Some kind of stillness. I had started trying to meditate and I want to be honest with y
ou, I struggled with it. My mind would not settle. There were lists and worries and the weight of everything I still had to figure out. Sitting quietly felt almost impossible.
But I kept trying. Because those few minutes before the day began were mine. And I didn't have many things that were mine back then.
What the Tortoise Understood
That little tortoise wasn't waiting for the weather to change.
He was ready anyway. Pressed up against the glass, eager to get out into the world despite the rain.
That image said something to me. Not loudly. Quietly.
Because that's what I was trying to do in those early mornings. Not pretend things were easy. Not force myself to feel positive. Just decide, before the day got hold of me, that I was going to face it anyway.
How we meet the first few minutes of the morning matters. Because the first thought of the morning has a way of setting the tone for the thoughts that follow.
If you have read my blog on why our bodies still react to old triggers or my blog on how thoughts affect healing after abuse, you will recognise the thread. The mind runs patterns. And the morning is one of the few moments where you get a chance to set the pattern before it sets itself.
The morning belongs to you before anything else does.
How to Improve Your Morning Mindset After Abuse
Here is the practice I came back to, again and again, in those early mornings.
Before getting out of bed, before reaching for anything, I would take one slow breath and ask myself one question:
What is one small thing I am looking forward to today?
Not a big thing. Not a life-changing thing. Something small and real and possible. A cup of tea. The light through the window. A phone call with someone I loved. The way my boys laughed at breakfast.
If nothing came, I would ask a question again:
What is one small thing I am grateful for right now, in this moment?
That's it. One breath. One question. That's the whole practice.
It doesn't erase the hard things. It doesn't pretend the rain isn't there. But it gives the mind something hopeful to hold, right at the start, before anything else moves in.
Some Mornings Will Still Be Hard
Some mornings you will wake up and the weight will already be there before you have opened your eyes. And no question, however gentle, will shift it that day.
That's not a failure. That's part of it.
The practice isn't about forcing yourself to feel better. It's about giving yourself one small moment of choice at the start of the day. Some days that moment will open something. Some days it won't. And that's okay.
Even the tortoise was eager to go out. Not because the rain had stopped. Because he was ready anyway.
If you are working on your morning mindset after abuse and wondering where you are on your healing path right now. It's free, it takes just a few minutes.
With love and gratitude,
P.S. If you would like a place to walk this path beside other women who understand it from the inside, come and join us inside the Inner Freedom Facebook Community. There's a quiet place there for you. 💜 Join us here.
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