When I was younger, the thought of a morning routine seemed really obvious. Of course, you do the same things every day: wake up, brush teeth, eat breakfast, and go to school—what more is there to it?
Those simple days of getting ready for school are over. For most of us, the morning is the only time when we can get a few moments in to ourselves before the rest of our day is booked with what other people have planned for us.
The pattern of waking up only to rush out the door is hard to break, but here are some of the things that I’ve found help to cut the unnecessary stress out of my life—you might actually find yourself becoming a morning person
1. Do what you can the night before
Don’t make the a.m. any harder than it needs to be. If you pack a lunch for work, putting it together the night before will save you some time in the morning to do other things like, actually enjoy your breakfast instead of rushing out the door with a granola bar that won’t even keep you full until lunch.
2. Avoid scrolling through your phone
You’re going to be staring at a screen all day. The moment you hear your alarm, you don’t need to immediately roll over and get a face full of blue light. Instead, take a few deep breaths, and visualize what you are going to do that day. Even the most overwhelming of schedules starts to seem bearable when you’re warm and rested in your bed.
3. Drink a glass of water
Your body has been shut down and asleep for at least (hopefully) 6-7 hours now. Your brain may be awake, but it’s time to give the rest of your body something to do. A glass of water will help to flush out toxins, rehydrate your body’s cells, and jump start your metabolism. Not to mention, fill you up a little bit to prevent over eating at breakfast.
4. Do a little cardio
It’s the first thing in the morning and the last thing you probably want to do is exercise, but doing something small just to get the blood flowing and stretching out the muscles that haven’t done much for a few hours isn’t a bad idea. Try doing something small, like 5 push-ups or holding downward dog for a minute. Both are definitely manageable and setting small goals like this that you can accomplish will leave you feeling satisfied.
5. Wake up 20 minutes earlier than you need to
You can get a lot done in 20 minutes when you’re awake, but if you press snooze to sleep for that amount of time, it goes by fast—too fast. Instead, you can use that 20 minutes to meditate, catch up on some reading, or actually enjoy your morning cup of coffee instead of tossing it in a thermos and running out the door.
