Field Notes

Morning routines, productivity, wellness habits, dopamine, sunlight, gratitude, affirmations — do viral morning routines actually work?

This week I tested 3 viral morning routines from an English woman, an American woman, and an Australian woman to see whether any of them could make me feel more energised, productive, and less like I’m running on fumes.

The problem?

I’m doing this with:

a toddler who wakes up at 4:30am
broken sleep
a massive family bed
and a deep resistance to bouncing on a Peppa Pig trampoline with coconut oil in my mouth

So this is a very scientific experiment.

In this episode

my current chaos-morning routine
Mel Robbins-style 5-4-3-2-1 habits
oil pulling, electrolytes and gratitude
Chinese lymphatic movements
making the bed like a functional adult
whether morning routines are modern madness… or actually quite anthropological

Timestamps (ish)

0:00 Intro – today’s experiment
1:00 My current morning reality
7:00 The American morning routine
10:30 The British morning routine
17:30 The Australian “hot girl” morning routine
25:00 Have We Lost the Plot? Morning routines through an anthropology lens

Join the book club

Actually Trying Book Club:
https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

Ask Guru & Granny

Send in your dilemmas, chaos, family drama and questionable life choices for Guru & Granny.

DM me at:
@rosehoneymorgan
@field.notes.pod

Coming Friday

I’ll report back on which bits of these morning routines actually survived contact with real life.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luteal phase, PMS, hormone hacks, mood swings — do internet remedies actually work?

This week’s field report: I tested some of the internet’s favourite luteal phase advice.

That meant eating a suspicious number of carrots and sweet potatoes, attempting to “rebalance” my hormones, and keeping a list of everything that annoyed me during PMS week.

Some of the advice helped.
Some of it involved heavily salted vegetables and blind optimism.

Here’s the honest verdict.

Timestamps

0:00 Field report: testing internet luteal phase advice
1:00 My accidental vegetable discovery
2:00 The luteal phase irritation list
3:00 The real household tension revealed
5:00 Honest thoughts about the podcast and time pressure
7:00 A possible PMS supplement experiment
8:30 Ongoing trials: hormone hacks & brain headset
9:00 Next week: morning routines

Experiments this week

luteal phase awareness
PMS mood tracking
sweet potatoes & carrots for hormones
magnesium & sleep support

Coming next

Next week I’ll test morning routines — the topic you actually voted for.

Follow along

Instagram:
@rosehoneymorgan
@field.notes.pod

Join the book club

Actually Trying Book Club:
https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week dives into the luteal phase (PMS) - what’s actually happening hormonally, why your mood drops, and how to cope without doing a crime.

We cover:

what the luteal phase actually is
why you feel more sensitive, irritable, and withdrawn
whether it’s hormones… or your life being out of alignment
practical ways to support your mood (from Instagram, obviously)
and a slightly chaotic Guru & Granny segment involving vegans and king prawns

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS (ish)

00:00 Intro – why we’re ignoring the poll and talking PMS
05:30 What the menstrual cycle actually does to your brain
10:30 Why the luteal phase feels like low power mode
12:30 Have We Lost the Plot? (evolutionary take)
14:00 “You’re not moody, your life is out of alignment”
16:00 Luteal phase survival tips (food, magnesium, sleep)
19:00 Guru & Granny: vegan boyfriend chaos

📩 ASK GURU & GRANNY

Got a dilemma?
Relationships, family chaos, existential crises…

DM your questions to:
👉 @rosehoneymorgan
👉 @field.notes.pod

(You can stay anonymous)

📚 JOIN THE BOOK CLUB

If you want deeper dives, experiments & slightly more structure:

👉 Join the Actually Trying Book Club:
https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

🎧 IF YOU ENJOYED THIS

Follow the podcast, leave a review, or send this to someone who:

becomes a different person before their period
has ever thought “why is everything suddenly awful?”
or needs a luteal phase survival plan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I tested 4 anxiety techniques…
two from a Harvard-trained life coach and two from Old Ma.

The methods:

• orgasm (did not happen)
• contemplating death (surprisingly helpful)
• building a “sanity quilt” (tiny habits that actually regulate you)
• visualising your perfect day (emotionally risky)

Some worked. Some absolutely did not.

Main takeaway:

👉 You don’t fix anxiety with one big breakthrough
👉 You fix it with small daily things that make life slightly more bearable

Also:

• no one is thinking about you as much as you think
• you will be forgotten (freeing, not depressing)
• and stroking your dog is genuinely medicinal

If you feel constantly slightly on edge, overwhelmed, or like your brain is doing too much…

this episode is for you.

🧠 What you’ll get:

• realistic anxiety coping strategies
• small daily habits that actually help
• a brutally honest test of popular techniques
• a reminder that your life doesn’t need to be perfect to be good

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Testing 4 anxiety techniques
01:00 Why orgasm didn’t make the list
02:00 Thinking about death (and why it helps)
04:30 The “life in weeks” reality check
05:00 The sanity quilt (best one)
08:00 Tiny habits that improve your day
10:00 The perfect day exercise (spiral warning)
11:30 Final thoughts + what actually worked

📲 Follow me on Instagram:
@rosehoneymorgan
@field.notes.pod

🔔 Subscribe for more:

Weekly experiments in:

• anxiety
• self-improvement (without the cringe)
• modern life
• and trying to function like a normal person
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you live with that constant background hum of anxiety, you’ll understand the feeling of trying everything — therapy, routines, productivity hacks — and still feeling slightly on edge.

So today we’re trying something different.

This is a Mother’s Day anxiety special, featuring:

• two anxiety techniques from my mother (Old Ma)
• two techniques from a Harvard-trained life coach
• and a conversation that includes orgasms, existential philosophy, and a surprisingly detailed death plan.

In other words: a fairly normal episode.

The Four Anxiety Techniques

In this episode we explore four very different ways of dealing with anxiety:

1️⃣ Old Ma’s technique #1: orgasm as emotional regulation
2️⃣ Old Ma’s technique #2: contemplating death (memento mori)
3️⃣ The “Sanity Quilt” method from Martha Beck
4️⃣ The Perfect Day exercise

Some of these are more sensible than others.

The Sanity Quilt

The Sanity Quilt idea comes from Martha Beck.

Imagine a patchwork blanket where each square is a small activity that reliably calms your nervous system.

Not big life changes.
Just tiny stabilisers you can rely on when things feel overwhelming.

Examples might include:

• a quick walk outside
• dancing to one song in the kitchen
• lighting a candle
• listening to music
• texting a friend
• reading a few pages of a book
• making a cup of tea
• eating a tiny cheeseboard (personal favourite)

The idea is to build a toolkit of small things that help you regulate before you spiral.

The Perfect Day Exercise

The Perfect Day exercise asks a different question:

Instead of chasing big life goals, what does a good ordinary Tuesday actually look like for you?

You imagine a realistic ideal day — from when you wake up to when you go to bed.

Not a fantasy billionaire life.

Just the kind of day your nervous system would actually enjoy living in.

Because life is basically thousands of Tuesdays in a row.

Also in this episode

• how worrying brains invent problems that never happen
• why modern life might be fuelling anxiety
• why remembering death can sometimes make life easier
• Old Ma’s surprisingly detailed end-of-life plan

Ask Guru & Granny

If you want Old Ma and I to attempt to solve your life problems, send us your dilemmas.

Relationship chaos, family drama, existential crises — we’ll take it all.

DM your questions to:

@rosehoneymorgan
@field.notes.pod

You can remain anonymous if you like.

If you enjoyed this episode

Please follow the show, leave a review, or share it with someone who:

• worries about things that never happen
• enjoys slightly unhinged mother–daughter conversations
• or might benefit from a sanity quilt and a small cheeseboard
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.