Good morning and good yoga to you! I wanted to touch on a somewhat hot topic – morning routines. It seems that there are endless articles about the “art” of waking up at the delightful time of 4am. How the most successful people get two hours of work in before many people like to approach the idea of waking up.
Does anyone else cringe and have a fainting moment of feeling bad about themselves when they read something like that?
*Raises Hand*
I bought into that sentiment for a long time. I kept telling myself that I needed to “do more” and getting up earlier was the only way to do so.
And then I started feeling bad that I didn’t magically become an easeful 5am-er that got up, exercised, made a healthy breakfast and still had to time to simply get ready for the day – all before trying to get out the door by 7:30 to get to work.
Related to Healthy Breakfasts: Healthy and Filling Blueberry Smoothie and Healthy Banana Pancakes
I did this for YEARS. It was a continuous cycle of deciding to “reset” and try to force myself to get up at the butt-crack of dawn, fail at getting up, which I would then feel guilty about for a while until I would decide to “reset” again.
Until I finally woke up (pun intended), and thought to myself: “maybe this just isn’t for me”. And guess what? I’m still successful. I still get my shit done. I still exercise regularly. And I’m a happy person for simply finding what worked for me.
Moral of the story: you can find what works for YOU. If you’re a chipper 4am-er – THEN DO THAT. If you’re not, don’t force yourself to be. Below are my top three tips for creating a simple stress-free morning!
Give Yourself JUST Enough Time
If you’re not a super-early morning person, plan ahead to give yourself just enough time to not run out of bed in a panic. If that is you – prep more the the night before by picking out clothing, packing your bag for the day, prep food, etc. Make it easy on yourself.
Do One Thing You Enjoy
No need to get crazy here. If you enjoy yoga in the morning – great! *Also be sure to do this yoga video*. For me, I enjoy getting my coffee and taking a couple minutes to pet the dogs. Then I move on with the morning! That’s it. I stopped drinking lemon water and trying to meditate. It didn’t work for me.
So, find ONE (maybe two) easy things that’ll actually bring a positive start to your day.
Let Yourself Be Present
This one is mildly woo-woo, but I find that instead of jumping into emails, social media, etc. and by mono-tasking, it sets the right tone for the day. I give myself the space to JUST wash my face, do my make up and brush my teeth, instead trying to do all of that while catching up on what I “missed”.
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