3 Ways a Morning Routine Can Improve Your Life.

Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash

About a year ago, I had had enough of chaotic mornings.  With 3 teenage sons, I had spent A LOT of years starting my day by yelling, rushing, and overall frustration. 

“Get up!”, “Get out of bed!”, “Get out of the shower!”, “Hurry up and eat!”, “I don’t know where your lacrosse cleats are!”, “You’re going to be late!  Again!!”.....

You get the picture and chances are, if you have kids, you know this routine all too well.  One day, after reading an article on morning routines, I decided to try one for myself. The benefits were immediate and I’m never going back!

My morning routine consists of waking up 45 minutes to an hour before the rest of the house.

I know!  Don't freak out!  Take a deep breath and hear me out.

This was the hardest part, but give it a week.  You will see that the benefits outweigh the struggle of getting up that early.  I promise!

The next part of my routine is meditation, which deserves its own blog post (coming soon)! Then I have a smoothie and check my to-do list for the day which I wrote out the previous evening.

Simple.  

Now, let’s get to the benefits, because, friend, you deserve to reap these too!

1.  My entire day is more peaceful and productive.

Starting my day in a calm way sets the tone for the entire day.  My days are far less frazzled and my focus and concentration have improved tremendously (I thank the meditation for this).

My squirrel brain is a lot less, well, squirrely.

I am much better equipped to handle when something unexpected pops up and I actually give myself grace when my to-do list goes awry, because let’s be honest, stuff happens!

2.  I am more patient.

Now that I start my day in a calm way, I am significantly more patient with my kids, my husband, myself, and to be honest, everyone that I come in contact with throughout the day. 

Rather than frantically jumping out of bed and screaming at my kids all morning, I can calmly nudge them to get their butts in gear. 

When my husband comes to the kitchen before leaving for work, I’m not frustrated and mad. I can actually be nice to him before he heads out the door.

When the dude cuts me off in traffic later that day, I don’t even get irritated.  I’m not lying to you here. I legit do not lose my s*#t on people anymore.

This is a big one, but I want you to think about starting your day.  Would your day go well if you started it with someone screaming at you????  

I used to think that they would learn to get up better if I was the "mean mom" who was teaching them a lesson.  

Bah!  After 13 years they didn’t get up any better in the morning.  Insert the definition of insanity here, people!

It didn’t work and they started every single school day with chaos.

Looking back, I feel really bad that it was this way for so long. 

I won’t lie to you, they still need reminders to get moving throughout our morning, but it is far less than it used to be and my kids leave the house in the morning with a calm start which in turn gives them a more peaceful & productive day (see #1).

As moms, it is our responsibility to keep our kids alive, to feed them, to clothe them, to teach them important stuff & #allthethings, but it’s also our job to set the tone for our household. 

Do we want a high-stress environment in the place where they should feel most comfortable? I vote nay.

So, are you onboard?  Please reach out to me if you have any questions.  I’d love to help!

Give it a try, I promise you won’t regret it.  And, your family will thank you.