How do you get your day going? Do you have a routine, ritual and a way to ease into your day? Or, do you rush and feel as though you are always mentally one step ahead of yourself and yet feel one step behind with all you need to do before your day “officially” begins?
Having a consistent morning routine is one of those deceivingly simple life hacks that can be hard to implement, but when you do, it makes a major difference in the feeling of your whole day. The truth is that your morning routine does not have to be long, fancy or anything too out of the ordinary. Your morning routine just needs to be consistent and offer you the opportunity to be presently engaged from moment to moment. The first place to begin is to have an adequate amount of time to actually offer yourself space where you can ease into your day. The intention is to offer an opportunity to bring on a sense of calm rather than triggering your stress response first thing in the morning!
If you are thinking, that’s great but I’m NOT a morning person— I am right there with you and know all about it! The thing is, having a morning routine helps to create more ease into the day and actually creates less disdain of the mornings. I used to wake up with little time to spare and felt as though I was one step ahead of myself in my mind—what I still had to do—and yet I felt a step behind knowing that the time I needed to get out the door was looming ahead! I started my day stressed-out and it had a negative impact on the rest of the day. I had to make some adjustments and they have paid off big-time in my energy and my mood!
Routines are so incredibly valuable because they allow the wellness practices that you desire within your life to become a deeply engrained stress-relieving habit. When I don’t protect my time, energy and digestion, I suffer. When I attend to my health needs and keep my stress in a manageable space, I flourish. This is a practice, a daily need and it is useful to constantly review, update, tweak and grow.
For this week ahead, consider one thing you could add to your morning (or maybe take away—like the news or scrolling through social media) that would increase your ability ease into your day. What is one thing that would help you create more present moment awareness into your morning? How can you set yourself up to have reduced stress and increased energy? How can you create just one simple change that can have a big impact on your day ahead?
Not sure where to begin? Here are a few sample morning routines that you might find to be useful:
Scenario 1:
-make your bed
-exercise
-shower
-deep breathing
-journaling/self-reflection
-tea/coffee/breakfast
-Your day has now begun!
Scenario 2: (my office-day morning routine!)
-breathing exercises
-shower
-drink lemon water
-rest on the couch with tea
-breathing and intention setting for the day
-check in with emails
-breakfast
-prepare lunch for the day
-off to work!
Scenario 3: (my work-from-home day morning routine!)
-lemon water
-make ginger + Darjeeling tea
-breakfast
-intention setting
-daily preparation + organization/ideas/emails/posts
-exercise/yoga
-breathing exercises
-shower
-ready to jump into the day!
Scenario 4:
-exercise
-shower
-breakfast
-intention setting
-You are ready to take on the day!
Scenario 5:
-practice gratitude
-eat breakfast
-sip morning bevi of choice
-read something inspirational
-shower + brush teeth
-you are ready to start your day!
Scenario 6:
-make your bed
-yoga breathing + postures + setting daily intentions
-breakfast
-shower
-ready for your day!
Do you have a morning routine that works for you? I’d love to hear about it! Did you try any of these listed above or tweak one area of your morning to improve your day and reduce your stress? I’d love to hear about your experience!