Establishing a simple morning rhythm is essential for promoting calm and gaining control over the most important part of your day.
I recently wrote about establishing about establishing a calm, simple before school rhythm for your children – but what about you?
How you start your day can affect how the rest of it flows.
As I mentioned in my previous post, my mornings used to be ruled by chaos. Sleepless nights with the baby meant I ignored my alarm for as long as possible, which then resulted in a less than ideal situation where I rushed and nagged my then 7-year-old son to get ready for school.
Whilst my son was never late to school, the mornings didn’t feel good. When the morning doesn’t feel good, it affects the rest of the day.
Here’s what I did to change my morning rhythm
Before I begin, I’m not recommending what I do now to mothers of young babies. I don’t think that waking up early to journal and do yoga is a great idea when you’re exhausted from waking up constantly.
I suggest you take things step-by-step when building a morning rhythm. Read the ideas outlined in this post and then slowly introduce the ideas that resonate with you.
I love journaling and meditating, but if you are more of a ‘go for a run’ type, then do what’s best for you!
Slowly Build Habits that will form your morning rhythm
Doing everything all at once is a recipe for failure, so start slowly. My decision to change started so easy: I drank a glass of water when I woke up. Previously, I’d headed straight for the coffee, which left me dehydrated.
Next I added journalling and then meditation. Then I started started using the Google ‘Keep Notes’ app on my Pixel phone to keep track of what I needed to do that day.
I should add that each of these habits takes minutes rather than hours. I opt for 3-5 minute meditations using the Calm app and my journalling takes another 3. All in, the part of my morning which is solely for me only takes 15-20 minutes, but it sets me up for the day.
I’ve found that having these moments to myself meant I was much more present with my children by the time they woke up.
Helpful Tools that I use
- Google Keep Notes – for quick reminders
- Trello – for work organisation
- Calm App – for meditation and to track my wellbeing
- Audible
- Google Wellbeing (to track screen time and set limits on certain apps)
- Fitbit – to track health and my menstrual cycle
- Google calendar – to set recurring reminders on my phone
20 Morning Rhythm Ideas to try
- drink a glass of water
- drink a glass of hot lemon water
- make bed immediately after getting up
- avoid use of phone for the first 20 minutes of the day
- read
- journal / practise gratitude
- meditate
- do yoga / stretch
- go for a short walk
- exercise
- drink a green smoothie
- eat a nutritious breakfast
- check your calendar / to do list
- do a 5 minute task from your to-do list
- prep a packed lunch
- hug your children
- listen to a podcast
- listen to an audiobook
- send a text to a loved one
- listen to music
Journal Prompts to help you start a morning rhythm
- What’s one simple idea that I could introduce into my morning rhythm now?
- What currently works well each morning?
- What is the worst thing about my mornings?
- How could I become more present each morning?
- What could I prepare the evening before to make mornings run smoother?
Save these ideas to your Pinterest Page!
Establish a simple family rhythm – it helps everyone!
The Family Rhythms Masterclass was the very first paid subscriber series I launched after creating A Playful Year on Substack. I’m re-sharing all of the links below because after an influx of new subscribers, I wanted to ensure that you didn’t miss out on this crucial topic.
In my opinion, creating a family rhythm is one of the most important things you can do in the early years and beyond. A family rhythm has certainly helped my family move from complete overwhelm towards joyful days.
Find out more here.
