Daily Grooming, A Philosophy

The morning has thrown you out of your bed, straight into your car and onto the road. Now prepare yourself for an hour of traffic and Top 40 Hits because your day is just about to get weirder from here. A few minutes later, the daydream has kicked in. You start noticing things, small things, about yourself like the fact you have substituted breath mints as opposed to brushing your teeth or your stubble is in uneven patches and you get the urge to pick at the stray hairs. But stop picking at them, that’s bad for your pores.

We will call this a first category type of person.

In the hustle and bustle of our lives, we are constantly thrown into these types of situations. The adrenaline-pumping stress that pushes you along and causes you to feel uneasy or anxious for whatever life may throw at you. The feeling may equate to starting a new full-time job or regular commitment, but I have found that creating “pillars” through your daily life gives it structure and shape. What are these “pillars”? They are simply daily rituals that you place throughout your day that bring you back to the present when everything is stretching you thin.

For some, this may be as simple as a cup of coffee early in the morning in their favourite cafe or as complex as doing an hour rotation of yoga poses to open up the back and limber up the body. But for men, there is one thing that we can all create a pillar for: grooming. Waking up in the morning and shaving off unwanted stubble or trimming your beard requires the focus and attention needed to bring you back to the present moment. Cutting off hair, for me, has always been strangely cathartic and there is nothing I love more than having a clean face (and clean teeth). Not only is it something that can calm your racing mind and prepare your for the day, but you will also look great.

This is a second category type of person.

I used to be in the first category, always rushing to things and having no sense of structure to my days, but since I started creating pillars throughout my days I have started to feel more calm and more at ease that I know despite all the chaos there will be a moment of respite soon. I have felt the same way about daily grooming in the morning recently – knowing that I’m fresh and clean and ready to tackle on a brand new day is better than that extra 10 minutes of snooze.