Breakfast Is Not Negotiable

In my youth, breakfast was optional. A coffee if I had time. Toast on the run. Sometimes nothing at all but a vague sense of urgency and a banana that never made it out of the car.

But now that I’m retired—and slightly wiser—Bernard Michael Rochford does not skip breakfast.

In fact, I defend it. Fiercely. Passionately. Like a ritual. Breakfast is no longer the meal I rush through to get to the real part of the day. It is the real part of the day.

The morning begins slowly. I open the blinds, let in the light, and shuffle into the kitchen like a man arriving at his favourite café—which, incidentally, is his kitchen. I stand at the counter, boil the kettle, and greet the cereal cupboard like an old friend.

Some days it’s eggs. Some days it’s oats. Every now and then, toast with avocado that I will grumble about paying $4.50 for, even though I’m the one who bought it. And always, always, a cup of tea.

I eat at the table. Sitting down. Like a person with nothing to prove and nowhere to be for at least the next 90 minutes. Because this time in the morning? This slow, sacred window between waking and doing? That’s mine.

The news murmurs in the background. I read a few pages of a book. I make a list for the day that I may or may not follow. Sometimes I sit in silence, chewing thoughtfully, like a monk with a Weet-Bix.

What I’ve discovered is that the way you begin your day sets the tone. When you rush breakfast—when you cram toast in your mouth while checking emails—you’re telling the day, “I’m already behind.” But when you sit down, breathe, enjoy the first hot drink of the morning with two hands wrapped around the mug, you’re telling the day, “I’ll get to you in a minute.”

There’s power in that pause.

And yet, I see people skipping breakfast like it’s some badge of honour. “I’m too busy.” “I intermittent fast.” “I just grab something at work.” No offence, but that’s chaos. That’s nutritional self-sabotage disguised as productivity.

Breakfast isn’t about calories. It’s about care. It’s about saying, “Before I give myself to the day, I’m going to feed myself properly.”

Even when I was still practicing osteopathy, I’d tell my patients to eat something in the morning—especially if they were coming in to be twisted and realigned. You want to face life’s adjustments with a full stomach, trust me.

So now, in retirement, breakfast is non-negotiable. I treat it with the respect it deserves. It’s the one part of my day I never let anyone rush.

Because if Bernard Michael Rochford has learned anything, it’s this: the world can wait.

But my toast? My toast cannot.

Bernard Michael Rochford
Retired Osteopath | Breakfast Traditionalist | Tea-First, Everything-Else-Second Enthusiast