Long-form September Routine
An Exhaustively Over-detailed Breakdown You Didn't Ask For
A man in kaaki green chinos and silver air max 97s is seated in front of me on the subway. He is scrolling on his phone, wearing a white fitted t-shirt, perfectly yet effortlessly tucked into his pants. He holds a boxy and squared natural canvas tote bag with multiple zippers, one i am sure was not an impromptu purchase, but instead a carefully thought out hunt. He is probably Danish, and from what I can tell he works in a pretty basic industry.
In front of him a girl in oversized dark wash denim jeans and a perfect fitted navy blue knotted pullover stands tall against the neon yellow metal structure of the M4 seats. She wears a brown headscarf and matching eye glasses.
I leave my bike at the station after work every night and ride the subway the rest of the way home. To the Danes, i think it’s pretty embarrassing. To me, 30 minutes of biking in the cold is more than enough. My commute consists of a 5 minute walk to the Havnholmen station (which was open to the public 10 days before my arrival), followed by 8 stops on the brand new M4 train. The train is self-driven and is only 4 carts long, with 2-minute intervals between each recurring line. The train boasts perfect signal, so I usually continue my daily morning call with Amina until the 3rd or 4th stop. At which point, it is probably 9:10 am and we are both late to work. I take the elevator up to the ground floor because I am always late in the mornings and prepare the key which unlocks my bike.
My bike is a classic Copenhagen find. It has a dark brown leather seat and matching handles. I found it on DBA and bought it second hand (and absolutely destroyed) from a Palestinian man who spoke Danish. It only has a foot brake, which was really difficult to manage at first but now seems second nature. I hop on it and drive it to work, skipping stop lights when appropriate.
After work, I drive it back to the station and lock it in the same place. I get on the same train in the other direction. I usually read my kindle or scroll on substack. I recently lost my earphones and it has somehow forced me to just sit there almost waiting for the time to pass.
Depending on what groceries we have or what we are in the mood to eat, I either walk straight home or head to the mall which has a local Føtex. The mall we live by is probably the only mall in Copenhagen - actually, in Denmark. Malls in Europe are a rare sight. I almost always buy raspberries and a bag of spinach regardless of what I am going to find.
Our regular dinners consist of one selection of protein, which we really try to diversify. A classic rotation is chicken, chuck meat, minced meat, turkey legs, salmon, any other white fish, shrimps, and maybe duck every blue moon. We then choose the rest of the dish based on that protein. Usually a brown rice with a side of vegetables or maybe something more experimental if i have the patience.
The other day on my walk home from føtex, I noticed a queue to a big delivery truck. It was a fresh milk dispenser sat in front of our house. All the men in line (which was the entire line) had at least 6 glass bottles in an ice bag ready to be filled with fresh milk. I was so confused. All I want in my life is to live close to fresh milk supply or at least to be around people who really appreciate it.
Copenhagen is hilarious. The milk is just one example. Around the corner from the office, I see lined up strollers left behind in the street by moms on morning coffee runs. It is not unusual to find a baby in the stroller, sitting right there on the sidewalk, unattended. They inherently have this insane level of agency over public space, transforming every square meter into usable space. They own the street. I guess 38% income tax can really do that to a population. Then there are the obvious things: everyone bikes everywhere, they have insane style, and amazing exposure to good design.
After dinner, the nights are pretty basic. A lot of cooking and snacking and watching shows and maybe some reading on really good days. One day a week I get an itch to explore more and we usually walk around a neighborhood or go to a wine bar. I try to practice the piano every day to get the most out of my 3-month SIMPLY subscription.
Every night I sleep later than I intend to and every morning without fault I ditch the work out I supposedly planned and sleep 15 minutes longer. The only thing I have committed to is daily morning pages, and I can honestly say without a doubt that it totally transformed my life.
Three things in the past four years have absolutely transformed my life:
My therapist in 2020 asked me to speak to myself like I would my best friend. I could write a whole blog post on this. After maybe 8 months of silent treatment, I finally started building a relationship with myself and gaining “her” trust back. We’ve been inseparable ever since.
I got married, or rather, I decided to commit to my life with my partner. I could also write a blog post about this. Way too much to say. The main takeaway is: independence is overrated, freedom is way less aggressive than I thought, love is labor.
I started writing morning pages after reading The Artist’s Way. This is actually an extension of number 1 - so i had a pretty good relationship going with myself with super cutes alignment and dispersed daily check ins, weekly date nights, etc. But somehow I was still anxious and would stay that way until I sat down and held the space for a conversation with myself to take place. Morning pages just regulated that. 20-25 mins every morning where both parties (me + me) know they will show up daily. It’s like a facetime call. It’s so insane how much it has transformed my life and made me realize how tough it is to actually schedule in 20 uninterrupted minutes with yourself in this world!
That is pretty much it. I don’t know why I’ve written this detailed account of a day in my Copenhagen life. I hope that it serves my memory well.
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I have been trying to write bi-monthly instead of just the end-of-month newsletter. Let me know if it works and if there is anything particular I should write about.
Speak soon for a September wrap-up 💛
hi fellow cph girly 🤍
loved this ❤️ took a trip to cph this summer and it was amazing