For a long time I thought there was a step I was missing. Some technique, some phrase, some system that would finally make the mornings work - if only I could find it. There wasn’t a missing step. There was a missing order. Everything I tried before understanding her nervous system was aimed at the wrong moment - trying to reason with a body that wasn’t ready to be reasoned with yet. Once I understood that, it stopped being about fixing the morning and started being about settling what was happening underneath it, first. She missed over 100 days of school in one year alone. There were stretches where I genuinely didn’t know if things would turn around. She’s at university now - her first choice, exactly the future she wanted for herself. If you’re still looking for the missing step, I don’t think that’s what’s missing. I think it’s the order - and once you have that, everything else has a real chance of working. Comment “Toolkit” for all the practical steps a psych gives ...