Since becoming a mom I have gone through many iterations of a morning routine. Most of it involved having absolutely no routine at all and waking in a panic to the sound of a crying child each morning.
My oldest is about to be 11 and my youngest is now 4 and I’m grateful to say that I do now have a morning routine that I *mostly* follow
The key to my morning routine:
After learning a lot about myself I have realized that I am a morning person and a slug of a human in the evening.
I have finally started to work with this info about myself and go to bed early. When I have it my way I am in bed at 900 pm. Sometimes I am guilty of reading until like 10 (whoops!)
Back to my morning:
Now, I know this first part is NOT going to be for everyone (night owls, moms of babies not sleeping, insomniacs, etc.)
- I wake up at 500 am
But I still give myself lots of grace when there are mornings that I just don’t want to or don’t feel like I can do it. I may give myself grace but my dog Stanley, does not. He finds it necessary to scratch me right in the face and give incessant kisses
- I make our coffee
- I try to keep my phone away from me at this point (although recently I have been slacking with this a bit)
- I read and drink my coffee in silence, unless a little dude decides to make his way down here early for snuggles and chaos
- Mondays and Tuesdays I try to get my butt to the gym
- The other days I currently just read until my kids have to get up (first one at 645am)
- Sometimes I throw in a meditation
Why I love my morning routine:
Getting into the habit of making this time for myself in the morning helps set me up for a better day. With 3 kids, our mornings still end up hectic. I do, however, feel a little better prepared to handle them.
I have definitely noticed an improvement in my anxiety. Could that be from my medications? Maybe. Could this quiet time also be helping? I think so.
*I’d like to incorporate some form of exercise during this time each morning, but I’m just not there currently. Over the summer I was walking or jogging on days I wasn’t lifting. I have gotten WAY out of that and it has proven hard for me to get back into!
