E6: Uncle Jamie and the Wake Drill

E6: Uncle Jamie and the Wake Drill

Scrubbing Squad: Hero Missions | Hero Training

NARRATOR: Boots on. Radios crackling. Orders received. The Scrubbing Squad is standing by. Ready for real-world missions, adventure... and fun. And there is one hero they cannot start without. You. Report for duty. Heroes start here.

UNCLE JAMIE: Hero HQ calling all heroes. This is Uncle Jamie. Fall in, heroes: today's mission is about to begin.

UNCLE JAMIE: Saturday, heroes: training day. And this week, for the very first drill in the set, I am not staying behind the desk. Sergeant Vest, the yard is yours: and save me a spot on it.

SGT. VEST: Hallo, heroes, and welcome to Hero Training, the show you do not listen to: the show you DO. Every hero's day starts the same way: with a wake-up. Win the wake-up, and the whole morning falls in line behind it. So this week we train the very first drill of the morning: the Wake Drill. And leading it, the hero who commands every morning at Hero HQ, the founder of this entire Squad, our Base Commander himself: Uncle Jamie. Commander: walk them through.

UNCLE JAMIE: Ah, thank you, Sergeant. Heroes, the Wake Drill, once through before we run it, nice and gently. Four stations, and we visit them in the same order every morning. Station one, EYES AND BREATH: eyes open, three slow breaths, and one enormous stretch, all without leaving your bed. Station two, SIT AND FEET: sit up slowly, swing your feet to the floor, and wake your toes up first. Station three, STAND AND LIGHT: stand up tall, reach for the sky, and let the light in: curtains open, or lamp on. Station four, THE DUVET: pull your duvet straight, pillow to the top, and stand at your door, ready for the day. At every station, when it is done, you answer me with the same word every time: say it with me: AWAKE. Now, this is a fixed-time drill, heroes: two and a half minutes, and the audio is the clock, so once we begin, we go all the way to the end together, no stopping. And since this morning is a practice run, here is the fun part: hop back onto your bed, lie down, and close your eyes. Yes, really. Ready position, heroes.

UNCLE JAMIE: Good morning, hero. This is Uncle Jamie, and this is the Wake Drill. Station one: EYES AND BREATH. Eyes open. Now three slow breaths with me. In... and out. In... and out. In... and out. Now the enormous stretch: arms long, legs long, everything long, like a starfish.

UNCLE JAMIE: Stretch all the way to your fingertips. Lovely. ... Station one done? Say it with me: AWAKE.

UNCLE JAMIE: Station two: SIT AND FEET. Sit up, hero: slowly does it, we are waking up, not launching a rocket. Now swing your feet out from under the covers, and put them flat on the floor. And wiggle your toes: all ten, reporting for duty.

UNCLE JAMIE: Feet flat, back tall. Roll your shoulders once, nice and slow. ... Station two done? Say it with me: AWAKE.

UNCLE JAMIE: Station three: STAND AND LIGHT. Stand up tall, and reach for the sky: right up on your tiptoes if you like. Hold it... and down. Now let the light in: open the curtains, or switch your lamp on. Go on: I will wait.

UNCLE JAMIE: Light tells your body the day has started: it is the oldest wake-up call in the world. ... Station three done? Say it with me: AWAKE.

UNCLE JAMIE: Last station, hero. Station four: THE DUVET. Pull it straight, corner to corner, and set your pillow at the top. It does not need to be perfect: it needs to be done. Then stand at your door like you mean it.

UNCLE JAMIE: A straight duvet is the first mission of the day, complete before breakfast. ... Station four done? Say it with me: AWAKE. Four for four, hero. The Wake Drill is complete, and the day is yours. Same four stations, every morning.

SGT. VEST: Outstanding work, heroes. And Commander: textbook form on the starfish. Now the options line, because at this camp every hero's morning is different, and every version below counts in full. Some heroes wake with an alarm, straight up and moving: if you chose it, hero, it counts. Some heroes have a grown-up on wake-up duty: the parent-assisted wake is a two-hero mission, and it counts. Some heroes need to move first: five jumps or five stretches before anything else, and then the stations: that is the movement-first wake, and it counts. And some heroes run the slow version: extra time at station one, checking how much energy the day has given you before you even sit up. That is not slow, heroes: that is elite-level listening to your own body. Every one of those wake-ups is a hero's wake-up. Mind over muscle.

SGT. VEST: Your mission, heroes, and here is your fact for the dinner table first: astronauts, real astronauts on the International Space Station, see sixteen sunrises every single day, because their station circles the whole Earth once every ninety minutes. Sixteen sunrises! So how do they know when morning is? They cannot trust the sun: they trust the drill. The same wake-up routine, at the same time, with gentle lights that brighten slowly, every day, four hundred kilometres above your head. If astronauts run a wake drill, heroes, you are in elite company. So. If you are four, five or six: run the Wake Drill once this week with a grown-up, all four stations, and say your four AWAKEs proudly. If you are seven or older: run it every school morning this week, the moment you wake up: press play before your feet touch the floor, and let the drill carry you all the way to your door.

PVT. ACE: Ace here, heroes. Ace Mode version: same wake-up, same time, same light, same sound, every single day: your body loves a pattern it can trust. Ask your grown-up to keep the light gentle: nothing sudden, nothing bright all at once. And if moving first helps you switch on, do your five stretches before station one, then join the drill. Same mission. Your way.

SGT. VEST: Drill done? Tell a grown-up, tick Saturday's box on your Squad Mission Chart, and heroes: the Wake Drill audio lives at scrubbing squad podcast dot com, ready for every single morning. That is not a podcast, heroes. That is equipment. Back to HQ.

UNCLE JAMIE: Heroes, this is Uncle Jamie. Mission accepted?

AUNTIE ELLIE: Little missions. Big heroes. Heroes start here.