Creating A Morning Routine
Over the last 6 months or so I've been trying to figure out my "perfect" morning routine. I've realized I feel most myself when I have a bit of structure in my life. But this craving for structure is also what lead me into my years of disordered eating and exercise. For a long time, my structure meant waking up at the same time every day with enough time to get an early morning workout in but in an obsessive way. Since healing my relationship with food and exercise, I've been a lot more lax about my mornings. But something felt off. I realized that with giving up my strictness and obsessiveness with exercise I felt a little crazy without a routine. Implementing a routine could be helpful with me feeling organized and prepared for the day as well as have a way of setting myself up for peace throughout the day.
I read about other people's morning routine and wrote down a few things that would make up my "perfect" morning routine. One quick pre-cursor though I feel I should mention...As I was trying to implement a routine in my own life I was reminded that we, as humans, aren't perfect and aren't meant to be! Our lives are variable, which is what makes them interesting and exciting! That being said, there's no such thing as a truly perfect routine so be sure not to think of it like that when establishing your own. You're going to have days where you don't follow it exactly and there will be days you do. Some days you may skip it all together and that's ok. Also, it doesn't have to be a big "to-do", but only what makes you feel alive before truly starting your day.
Hope you enjoy :)
Wake up
I wake up in the morning between 5:30 and 6. My ideal is waking up at 5:30, but if I go to bed a little later than I hoped or really feel I need the extra sleep I'll stay in bed until 6. I've always been an early riser and feel most productive and alive in the mornings, so waking up at this time gives me time to do all the things that I want to do in the morning before I go to work.
Hydrate
I used to be a "but first coffee" kinda person, but I've really tried to drink at least a couple ounces of water in the mornings. Sometimes I'll add some lemon and apple cider vinegar to it to help get my digestive juices flowing, but sometimes it's just plain water to get me hydrated. After sleeping and not drinking for 7-8 hours during the night, hydrating is so important!
Movement
I try to move my body for 15-30 minutes in the morning. I've found that moving my body first thing in the morning makes me feel so much better throughout the day! The difference between how I was exercising back when I was struggling with over-exercising and now is that it's not a "have to" thing. I always wake up and tune into how my body feels. Sometimes I feel ready and excited to exercise, and sometimes I don't. And sometimes I don't feel like it but I know it will make my body and mind feel better. A question I always ask myself and encourage those I work with to ask themselves when it comes to choosing how to move or not is, "Is this movement going to make me feel well?" There are times, say, when your body is sick or overly exhausted where exercise is going to make you more stressed out and more exhausted. If that's the case, give yourself permission to skip the morning workout and maybe opt for something less stressful such as walking or yoga.After movement I'll shower and get ready for the day.
Reading + Prayer
Lastly I'll spend anywhere from 10-20 minutes reading and in prayer. I'll usually read from a devotional that I'm going through at that moment (right now I'm going through the book "Redefined" by Well Watered Woman which is AMAZING!), spend time reading my bible, and then journaling my prayers. I've also started adding in writing my goals for the week on Mondays as well as things I'm thankful for. This is probably my favorite part of the morning. I'll try and have a cup of coffee at this time also because it helps set the mood I'm trying to get which is cozy. Then it's breakfast and off to work at my pediatric nurse job or, if it's a business day I'll get to work on stuff for the biz. Thanks for following along! I hope you have a wonderful day! And share with me what your morning routine looks like in the comments, or if you don't have on yet what your ideal morning routine would be :)