I’ve never been much into mornings. I’m naturally a night owl through and through, and, given the choice, I’d sit up until five am. There’s something comforting in the dark and quiet of the night. The morning signals a new day and, sometimes, I’m not quite ready for that.
If it wasn’t for my tiny lions, I’d still sleep well past noon. Don’t get me wrong, there are days when my medication knocks me out to the point of sleeping well past their feeding time. But for the most part, I’m awake (not necessarily alert) every morning at six.
I’ve tried many different things to boost my morning mood. Some have worked while others have lasted a few days before falling to the way side. At the moment during the COVID-19 pandemic, I find myself going back to the basics in order to instil a calmness to the start of each day.
I love stretching. There’s nothing better than stretching in bed, after getting up, in the shower, while doing yoga (duh). There was a time when I was simply too ‘busy‘ to allows myself the wonders of an arms-over-head stretch! Instead of taking a second to pop my joints, I rushed out of bed, into my work clothes and out the door within the space of fifteen minutes. There was barely enough time to register that I was awake!
Now that I’m working on healing my body from years of abuse at the hands of on-off recovery, my joints and bones are aching. Far more than they surely should for a twenty-something-year-old. My right hip pops when I walk, my ankles are stiff, my wrists ache, my shoulders are a war zone of stress and my lower back has just gone to the dogs.
My body thanks me for taking the time to stretch. It thanks me for carrying on through yoga, for taking light exercise, and for nourishing it, even on the days I don’t want to.
Reach for the water first thing to increase alertness, kick-start you metabolism and to help fuel your brain. If nothing else, drink water for re-hydration. You’ve been asleep for six to eight hours (if not longer, you lucky devil) so your body is crying out for water.
As simple as it seems, it can be difficult to remember to drink water in the morning. Especially if you’re a coffee addict like me. But there’s no better way to boost your morning mood than to gulp down cool, refreshing water.
I avoided breakfast like the plague for years. All I needed was coffee and a cigarette, and maybe a bit of water. Now that I’ve no choice but to follow my meal plan, I’ve become fully converted.
Eating breakfast in the morning has many, many benefits aside from the usual ‘weight loss’. Because we’ve been fasting during the night our blood sugar takes a hit, and with lower blood sugar comes higher levels of cortisol in order to balance it out. If you don’t eat, you don’t raise your blood pressure to an adequate and sustainable level, so you’re more likely to be stressed. You can also imagine that this will have a knock-on effect on your concentration and productivity levels.
With breakfast you’ll be able to take on the morning with lower stress, leveled blood sugars, heightened concentration and ready to be productive AF!
Take five minutes to be with your breathing. I know you might be running late or you might have sh*t to do but it’s just five minutes. No, don’t do it in the car! Take time for yourself to just breathe while showering, while stretching, while standing in the kitchen with your cup of coffee in your hands.
I know it sounds silly. Surely I’m doing breathing right?! Yeah, you are, but breathing and being with your breathing are 2 very different things.
Yoga with Adriene taught me a fantastic little move that I practice several times a day when I feel myself getting irritated or twisted up in my own thoughts.
(Breathing technique starts at 7.41 of the video)
I highly recommend it the use of daily gratitude and affirmations. Both have been a ritual of mine since early 2019. Of course there are times when I’ve slacked on these, namely mornings when I’ve had to rush into work or when I’m feeling particularly rotten. But for the most part I find them enjoyable and they really help my morning mood.
I currently use Evernote but in the past have used a gratitude journal I created. In both, I write things like ‘I AM ENOUGH‘ or ‘I AM DESERVING‘. I give thanks for things like my friends, my warm home, Ryan and my cats, and, sometimes it’s something simple like Netflix or coffee.
Doing this on a daily basis can help boost our mood and allows us to see that although things might be sh*t, we do have things we can appreciate in life.
You can get one of the journals I created by signing up to the mailing list. There are two to choose from depending on which you prefer.
** If you like what I do please consider donating to my KO-FI fund. I’d like to be able to reach more of an audience so I can potentially grow this blog to be much more than it currently is. I also hope to bring freebies and eventually toolkits to you all as a way of saying thank you for your support.
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After waking up, stretching and making some coffee... I throw open the French doors and walk into the garden and just listen to the sounds. Sometimes we have a few birds, butterflies, bees or even the neighbours cat. It's a nice way to start the day, even in the rain.
This sounds like a wonderful morning practice! Our weather isn't exactly good enough for me to throw open my patio doors, but once it gets there (and if I have the day off) I'll be doing the same. I might even take my yoga practice out there :)
Breakfast sure makes a lot of difference.. But I find myself falling behind most of the time.. But will certainly work on it
I used to hate breakfast and now I wonder how I coped with out it! If I don't eat near enough to first thing in the morning I'm pretty useless in terms of focus and mood.
I'll certainly need to work my breakfast issues out asap
It's not easy - believe me!
Coffee first for me! Then out to the garden to see that my zucchini grew another inch. Along with colorful flowers and joy-producers including song birds, hummingbirds and assorted flying and crawling visitors - I breathe and feel thankful.
Coffee is a must before I do anything else! When the days start getting better & when my garden begins to look half way decent I'll be throwing open the windows and the doors and letting the breeze in :)
Couldn't agree more! Breakfast and coffee sets me up for the day!
Coffee is my absolute must!
Thank you for reading and commenting.
I absolutely hate mornings. Both me and my hubby are night owls, it's when we do our best thinking. So we are often up until 2-3am. But then we often won't get up til mid day. As soon as I awake, my anxiety switches on and it's heavy. So half the day has gone too which makes it worse. Then I feel I'm trying to get stuff done.
I do need to stretch more. And breathe....and you've got down a lot of good suggestions here. It is good to practice gratitude too. I am thankful for many things.
Thank you Chloe...
I'm a night owl too - both me and my partner are. But I am trying to be more of a morning person because I find getting up late makes me feel crap. Plus we have a cat that needs fed at 6am every morning so that helps get us up.
I hope these tips help you :D
I love all of these! I am going to add a couple I to my morning routine:)
Thank you for stopping by and commenting! I'm glad I was able to add to your routine in some way :D
Stretching is love.❤
I love stretching! I have a post coming out in a few weeks wherein I talk about the benefits of stretching in further detail :D x
I love doing all of these things. Always puts me on the right track for sure! Xoxoxo
I always find I feel better when following these! I feel more focused and ready to take the day by storm :D x
I've been meaning to give this stretching thing a try. I am very stiff lately and have a knee that clicks. I'm not a morning person but I need to be. Will try to implement more of your suggestions to boost my mood in the mornings.
First thing I do when I wake up is get out of bed and open the curtains and windows to let some fresh air in.
Thanks for your post. I'm going to try the breathing technique and also I love the bullet journal idea! It's too easy to talk negatively to yourself internally isn't it ✨
Far too easy! I find the gratitude journalling helps me though. That and yoga.
Why are mornings so hard for some of us? These are excellent tips to help make them more enjoyable. Can't wait to do them all tomorrow when I wake up.
Loved reading this. I personally love the mornings because I get to do all the little things which have become a part of my routine over the years. My favorite thing to do in the morning is definitely getting ready. Getting dressed and putting on jewelry and makeup instantly puts me in a good mood and makes me ready for the day. :)
Thank you for reading and commenting :D I love the mornings too but I've been struggling to get up recently - I'll have to get back on track :)