Are you a night owl or an early bird? Or a bit of both?
Now I want to pause here to say that this only became a priority for me once our youngest was nearly 1 and I was starting to get more sleep.
Until then I was still feeding, waking multiple times a night and taking whatever sleep I could get, whenever I could get it. I know exactly what it’s like to stumble out of bed and feed a baby half-awake, even before you’ve had the chance to go to the toilet. I also know what it’s like when getting out of the house feels like an impossible mission! I have been in tears at times in the past when I so desperately wanted to go for a walk and then something would happen with one of the kids that would change the plan and we wouldn’t make it. It feels suffocating.
My morning routine is a really important part of my life for my mindset, physical and mental health, productivity and effectiveness. I’m constantly learning about morning routines and tweaking mine to try new things. I’ve tried lots of different approaches and this is what I’ve learned so far:
- You have to find what’s right for you. The time you wake, what you include in your morning routine and how long you can give it all have to work for you. You’ll only learn this through trial and error and tweaking as you go.
- Tune in to yourself to know what you need. When I started implementing a morning routine I followed a set pattern of activities (and I would recommend this when you start) but now I trust myself and do what I feel called to do, which could be any combination of one or more of these things: exercise, meditation, yoga, mindfulness, breathing, journalling, gratitude, visioneering, writing, planning, listening to music, podcasts, audiobooks, or YouTube clips.
- There is so much online to support you. There are so many amazing apps and resources that you can access to support the start of your day! I love YouTube, Insight Timer, the Healthy Mummy app and Apple books, to name a few.
- Get into nature and immerse yourself in its natural high vibration. This is a big one for me. Nature is healing, grounding and has its own high vibration frequency that we can tap into simply by being in it. Go for a walk/run, tune in with your senses, pause, breathe and be present in it. And if you can’t leave the house, it’s enough to stand or sit outside for even a few minutes and practice mindfulness.
- Do what you can with the time that you have. Some mornings I spend an hour on my morning routine. Other mornings I only have 5 minutes. And there are times life gets in the way and I don’t do it at all. You have to do what you can, when you can. But what I have learned is the incredible power of feeling good in the mornings before I fall into the day, so I find ways, and you will too when you look for the opportunities. Play music and dance at breakfast time, step outside for 5 deep breaths, recite gratitude as you make school lunches, do 10 step-ups on the stairs on the way to work, etc. Don’t wait for things to be perfect.
- Stay off your emails and social media! Even though you may use your phone for parts of your morning routine, I can’t stress enough to stay off social media and your email. This time is for you, to be deliberate with your mind and energy and tune into you. Don’t begin your day being focused on the outside world!
- Creating any new habit takes time. In Robin Sharma’s incredible book The 5am Club, he says it takes 66 days to embed a new habit. He also says change is hard in the beginning, messy in the middle and glorious at the end, and I totally agree. What I’ve learned is that the reward of a morning routine is well worth it.
I’m offering a special opportunity for you to step into my morning routine from 5:30am – 6:00am AEST each day next week for free.
I will be on Zoom during that time and sharing my favourite feel-good morning routine rituals and resources. If you would like to experience this, join in with me and start your day in a beautiful energy, this is the perfect opportunity. You can join in anytime during that 30 minutes and stay as long as you like. If you’re looking to start or refresh your morning routine you will love this. Contact us and we will send you the Zoom link! I would love to see you and also hear from you what fills your cup and gets you in a great vibration for the day!