My Morning Routine
I’ve always been a morning person, and by morning, I mean like, 7:30am not 5:00am. Sure, it takes me a little longer to find my bearings, but what I really like about my “early” start to the day, is my morning routine. I like having things to look forward to (ahem…coffee) and things to help make the start of my day productive.
By not having to think, plan or organize anything the minute I wake up, not only takes the “decision paralysis” off my plate, but it allows for more freedom in my day.
Had you asked me what my morning routine looked like pre-motherhood, it would have looked something like this - wake up, practice hypnosis, wash my face, pour myself 1 ltr. of lemon water, look at my day planner, work on emails, set up clients, make a coffee, work and then head to the gym.
Nowadays, it looks a little more like this:
6:00am – Monty wanders into our bedroom for a pre-wake-up cuddle.
7:00am – We walk upstairs, share a banana, take our vitamins and I pour myself 1 very large glass of water with lemon (note, I’m not going to sell you on why I use lemon, I just genuinely like the taste of it).
7:30am – I wash my face, pick out my outfit, make Monty his steamed milk with honey and I get to work on mine and Ed’s coffee.
8:00am - With my homemade decaf, oat milk americano misto in hand, I spend the first 20 minutes scanning my emails and planning out my workday while Monty eats his breakfast. I do my best to make it “interactive” and talk through the day with him. Once that’s done, I shut work mode off and spend the next few hours with him.
10:30am/11:00am – Monty and I return home from one of his activities and we make my breakfast and his “second” breakfast together. As for this meal, mine never changes (egg white omelette with ham, laughing cow cheese, hot mango sauce and spinach).
We all know that routines help create consistency, which in turn can help with focus, productivity, and more positive daily habits. But what I want to make clear here is that just because we’ve been programmed to think that meditating or journaling first thing in the morning are the “better”, more helpful ways to adopt healthy habits – it’s not necessarily true.
Not everyone will find journaling beneficial, some people may prefer yoga over meditation and others might spend the first 20 minutes of their morning reading the paper. Regardless of what you enjoy (or have time for) what’s most important when you start you day is consistency and structure. Know what your mornings will look like before they start and insert a few “healthy habits” in here and there; water before coffee, taking you multivitamins, writing down 2-3 things you are grateful for and so on.
Don’t overload your plate. Start small and build from there.
Ps- as for that early morning water – drinking it in the morning can be a very beneficial habit to adopt for multiple reasons. (1) it hydrates your body after 6-8 hours of sleep (2) it helps with bowel movements (3) has shown to help bend cravings throughout the morning and (4) helps your kidneys flush out any unwanted toxins from your body**
