Why Having a Morning Routine Means Everything

If you aren't naturally a morning person, but find yourself to be more productive when you are early to rise, you are certainly not alone. 

If waking up with the sun takes more willpower than you would like, then it's unlikely that you will stick to the habit. It sounds like it's time to adjust your mornings into a series of events that serve to benefit you in your highest state. Embrace an environment that feels safe, expressive, fun, and revitalizing. Train your mind to start your day with momentum.

Simple things that make waking up early easier...

Alarm Clock Tricks

1. Keep your alarm clock in a place where you physically have to get up to shut it off. Avoid the snooze button!

If you have an Apple watch and wish to wake up at a certain time, say for example 6:15 am, the alarm will wake you within the interval of 6 am and 6:30 am. This is dependent on when your body is in a lighter stage of sleep. This will result in you waking more rested.

Use a wake-up sound that is peaceful - not one that jars you awake by scaring you out of sleep. This will help you wake up in a more gradual way as well, and also may help you recall your dreams from the night (bonus!)

2. Have your purpose of what you plan to accomplish in the morning. What is it that makes you excited?

3. Have your routine planned out:

• wash face, brush teeth, drink water
• make bed, tidy up
• meditate, affirmations, journaling, podcast, reading, audiobooks
• stretching, work-out, walking dog
• try to avoid cell phone if possible when you are doing these activities
• it doesn't matter what it is, just have a plan

Some people find it useful to break their routine down into blocks of time. For example, you can plan on meditation for twenty minutes, weight-lifting for twenty minutes, reading for ten minutes, etc. I personally do not like to implement time restraints on my activities. This is because on some days I like to spend a little more time on specific activities, dependent on lots of variables.

Some ideas to add to your morning routine and keep you feeling inspired:

Watch/listen to an uplifting talk. Currently, I listen to Abraham Hicks each morning on a variety of topics related to personal development. It not only helps to wash my worries away and restore my trust in the Universe. It also encourages me to have a joyous day and treat each moment as the gift it is.

Journaling

Keep a gratitude journal and engage in free writing first thing in the morning on a daily basis. When you allow yourself to write freely without self-doubt or expectations, you may be surprised at what ends up on the page before you. Thus, you will get to know yourself better.

You can journal about your thoughts and present-moment feelings. You can write about some issues in your life that you need help with or guidance about, goals you wish to attain, plans or intentions for the day or future, your fears, your hardships, your passions…the list is endless.

The process of actually getting thoughts down on paper helps us to see them in a more tactile way. This is regardless of whether they are positive or negative statements and helps us to address them in an appropriate and non-reactive way.

My favorite part about journaling is looking back on old entries, particularly ones where I expressed very emotive feelings. Whether it be anxiety, confusion, or sadness, I am able to notice in hindsight how far I have come from that moment in time and how well I was able to adapt and navigate the situation.

It helps me hone in on how to better respond rather than react to future conflicts with others that are important enough to have journaled about. I am not only able to take note and analyze common behavioral patterns of thought, but find a different perspective to my troubles before and after appropriate processing. Essentially it is a healing process, cathartic in nature.

Breathing

Take a moment to connect with your sacred breath. You don't have to do anything too intense or advanced. Just stop and breathe. Be present. Enjoy your bed and your surroundings and take notice of how you are feeling. Close your eyes and appreciate the nothingness that fills your head moments after waking.

Embrace the stillness of the morning and connect to your life force - your breath. By engaging in self-awareness on a regular basis (each morning), you will become more in tune with your body and intuition. You will also enhance your emotional intelligence and develop a more empathetic view of others and the world.

Silence

Take time to sit in silence, if time allows. Make your bed, draw your curtains, and sit upright. Close your eyes and breathe. Listen to your breath or practice deep belly breaths. The choice is yours. Connect with your center and release any negativity you have been harboring. You have the power to hit reset at any moment.

Express your gratitude, whether it be aloud or in your head. When we are grateful for what we have, we attract more circumstances and people to us that make us feel grateful. By practicing gratitude on a regular basis, we take control of our present-moment mindset, and this allows for great things to happen to us. It's important to make this an intentional exercise, no matter the simplicity of the things we decide to be grateful for.

Be active. It doesn't matter if it's a brief walk, light stretching, a short workout, or more if you desire. By engaging in some sort of physical movement each morning, we are setting ourselves up for a more refreshed, energy-filled day.

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

By taking the time to create your ideal morning routine, you should have a primary focus. For example, you can focus on short-term goals, career, your romantic and platonic relationships, parental/familial bonding, financial and monetary gain, etc.

You can have a theme for each day of the week if that suits you. For example, Monday can be focused on journaling and breathwork, whereas Tuesday can be centered around hitting the gym. It's all about what you find works the best for you. As humans, we are creatures of habit and most of us do enjoy some sort of routine in our day-to-day life.

Challenges

By knowing what you will do in the morning before you fall asleep, you will be able to hold yourself accountable. This is especially true for busy days when you may not have adequate time to complete your morning routine in full, but at least have a general list of some things you want to accomplish.

If you plan on becoming an early riser each day, no matter when you go to sleep, you will need to consider the ideal amount of hours you need to properly function.

If you go to sleep feeling that you have no desire to carry out your morning routine and would rather just sleep in, then you probably won't truly benefit from your plan of waking up early. If you tell yourself you will wake up feeling energized, then it's more likely that you will.

If you absolutely feel that it's unrealistic for you to wake up early every single day, then perhaps you can incorporate your morning routine into your day at any time you wake up. I am personally still actively working on perfecting my morning routine, and regularly play around with different activities to start my morning with.

If you feel like you are lacking time to accomplish everything you desire, then refrain from self-sabotaging and doing nothing at all! Do anything you can each morning that serves you, helps you grow as a person, or keeps you physically and mentally healthy. Don't try to be perfect. You can start just by going through the motions of the routine. Eventually, everything will fall into place.

My Routine

On some days, my morning routine flows more naturally than other days, often dependent on how much I expect from myself, how rested I am feeling, and how much time I have before I need to go to work or out somewhere. But I seldom set an alarm.

My body typically wakes at around 8 or 8:30, and I immediately start my routine with some affirmations from Youtube. I pair this with light breath work as I lie in bed and express gratitude for my present moment and for waking up another day. This activity can range between ten and twenty minutes.

I drink a tall glass of water and draw the curtains in my room as I say hello to the sunshine. I make my bed and tidy up my room. I brush my teeth, brush my hair, and wash my face lovingly with raw African black soap. I wipe the bathroom countertop down and clean my cell phone with isopropyl alcohol and a reusable cloth. (I only started doing this during Covid, but will definitely keep it in my routine.)

I then re-enter my bedroom and plop down at my desk for further skincare inclusive of eyebrow tweezing and facial oil application. All the while, I listen to Abraham Hicks or Justin Perry to lift my spirits or keep them lifted.

It is not long before I head downstairs, plug in my devices to charge, and say good morning to my dog. I bring her out to the backyard to do her business, then gently squeeze in her morning eyedrops. I prepare my celery for its morning juicing, and then I take the day from there.

I wouldn't say my routine is anything to write home about, and there is definitely a lot that I would love to add to it. Things like working out, journaling, (which I practice on and off), and staying off my cell phone for the first hour I wake are all things I plan on improving on.

I know that lasting change doesn't happen overnight, and I don't expect it to. That's why I have learned to take one day at a time, one moment at a day as a pure gift, and learn from my failures and successes.

If you don't think starting a morning routine would benefit you in any way, my advice would be not to knock it until you try it.

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

If you enjoyed this piece, please consider leaving a tip. Thanks!✌️😊