You might not like it, but here’s a simple truth: how you start your day is how you spend it. A solid morning routine can help you stay grounded, focused, and in a good mood. So, if you constantly feel overwhelmed before the day even begins, it’s time for a few tweaks here and there.
Today, we’ll tell you how to stop missing self-care moments in the morning and build a routine that is truly yours.
What Is A Morning Routine And Why Is It Vital For Your Mental Health?
Let’s think of the morning routine as hours between the time you wake up and the time you start your work or any other important task that takes a good chunk of your day. Those might be hours between 5 am and 9 am or even 9 am and 12 am — everything depends on your lifestyle.
The way you spend those first hours impacts your entire day, whether we talk about mood or productivity. No wonder so many GenZs and Millennials use tools for mental health like theliven app to track their mood, improve their emotional well-being, and generally get a good grasp of how morning rituals affect their mindset. Regardless of your age, job position, or living situation, a good morning routine makes a difference.
So, here is how to build one that makes every morning feel like a blessing from the universe.
#1: Find Your Starting Line Or Why Influencers Aren’t Always Right
You know better when you’re energized or tend to get hungry.
Sure, there are circadian rhythms and one should plan their day according to them, but contrary to what you’ve seen from the 5 am morning influencer routine, not everyone’s body is designed to wake up that early.
That’s why you’d better stick to the owl-and-lark classification. Morning birds are naturally energized at sunrise. But if you’re a late-night owl, that 5 am makes you sluggish, disoriented, and flooded with cortisol, the stress hormone. If that’s the case, the sweet spot for waking up is somewhere between 8 and 10 — not quite the afternoon, but no longer early morning.
#2: It’s Always Calm Before The Storm
Your muscles are stiff in the morning and so is your mind. So, before you engage in any physical activity, let your brain warm up with some breathwork aka meditation, journaling, or reading.
You can jot down your thoughts and feelings on paper or 5 things that you can be thankful for in your daily life. When you express gratitude for a new day, you reframe your thinking patterns. Instead of starting your day with never-ending worries, you re-focus on positive thoughts and get that willpower to overcome obstacles.
Here are a few ideas for your ‘Stay calm’ morning list:
- Gratitude journaling;
- Reading (a book! not a social media feed);
- Meditation;
- Making coffee or cooking your breakfast with a lo-fi playlist in the background;
- Writing down your plans for the day to feel organized and focused;
- Staring out the window — honestly, when was the last time you noticed the change of seasons?
#3: Move!
Remember those 5 am sports routines from TikTok? Well, here is a thing. You don’t have to do all that crazy stuff once you wake up. And as you remember from the point above — you don’t have to wake up that early. Honestly, the ideal thing is to follow your natural rhythm throughout the day.
You can add some light movement like stretching, yoga, or slow pilates to get those endorphins flowing and get in a good mood. And if you’re a natural early riser, then, perhaps, you can do the entire workout; and if you’re not — leave the hardest part for later.
#4: Keep Your Routine Consistent And Predictable
The habit of setting a specific time works magic for your emotional well-being. Why? Because your brain loves predictability, especially if that’s the brain of a highly anxious person. Yes, the secret to staying calm is in staying consistent with your morning rituals.
Here are a few things you can do:
- Keep your morning routine simple. The fewer steps it has, the easier it is to remember and accomplish them every day;
- Try to wake up at the same time or at least during the same one-hour period;
- Add new habits gradually. Always wanted to journal and meditate in the morning? Journal for a couple of weeks, see whether you like it, and then try adding meditation minutes to your new routine;
- Test and analyze your routine from time to time. It’s okay if some things take longer to build or if you realize you completely dislike them.
#5: Stay Far From The ‘no Pain, No Gain’ Philosophy
Did you know that it’s impossible to stay highly productive from the morning till the evening? Regardless of what the Internet tells you, the 5 am trends on TikTok and “the habits of highly effective people” are often highly destructive both to your mental and physical health. And here is why:
- More hours don’t equal more work. It’s okay if your energy is higher during the day or peaks in the evening. So, plan your activities accordingly;
- If you’re not an early riser and opt for a HIT workout in the morning, you increase the chance of getting injured in the process;
- We all have bad days. But what does the toxic productivity culture tell you? Yes, that you’re just lazy or unmotivated when in reality, it’s your body crying for deep rest.
Simply put, stay away from perfectionism 🤨.
Final Thoughts: March To The Beat Of Your Own Drum
We’re all people with different lifestyles, goals, and values. So, why on earth would you want to repeat the morning routine of influencers, friends, or co-workers?
The key is to have a morning routine that doesn’t drain you or make every morning feel like torture.
So, embrace your individuality, add things that give you joy, and stop beating yourself up over productivity if you’re not feeling it.
You’ve got it!