Routines
Ahhh,,.routines. What does just that word itself spark in. you? Calmness? Grounding? Ease? Aversion? Criticism? Boredom? Chances are, if you’ve already jumped on the routine bandwagon then you find yourself in the first group with an affinity for what establishing this has done for your life. If not, you might find just the thought of a routine to be monotonous and against the grain of your wild and free lifestyle. Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle. Well, let me tell you I’ve recently began slowly establishing a conscious routine, introducing some new morning rituals and I am watching this practice slowly change my life. I’ll make my case and maybe inspire you to do the same. If you have a well established routine, I’d love to hear about it and discover if any of my personal practices resonate with you!
There’s a reason parenting books emphasize routine so heavily (I don’t have children, I just know this from friend’s experiences). We attempt to get babies on a schedule right from the start, send our children to school, and plan out consistent activities for growth and learning. As humans we are creatures of habit and whether we like it or not, routines are a natural part of our existence.
Chances are you have a variety of unconscious consistent activities that are your natural routine. Waking up, turning off your alarm, grabbing your phone, checking emails, getting out of bed to pee, making coffee, and rushing out the door (pre-Covid, that is), and so on. Now, imagine instead you consciously chose what those morning steps looked like instead of letting your inherent behaviors run the show. What would you do? Slowly wake up, lightly stretch, ignore your phone and daily tasks/the news for now, meditate, drink water with lemon, and peacefully welcome the start of a new day. Sound magical and too good to be true? It’s not. Seriously. There’s a great deal of power in the moment you activate the awareness surrounding how you’re unconsciously spending your time versus how you want to be, Mornings like the one I just described are not reserved for zen yoga teachers, social media influencers, or those separated from the stress of daily life. They are available to every single one of us.
How? By starting small. Pick one thing you’ve really wanted to try or something that lights you up. Nothing coming to mind? Close your eyes and sit for a second. Get quiet in your body and see what pops up. What articles have you gravitated towards? If you were on vacation with no obligations how would you want to start your day? Whatever that is, add it in. Try incorporating it 3 days a week. Then add another and one more until it becomes natural. I have a feeling you’re going to enjoy it so much, it’ll come very easily. Once that becomes second nature, add another. If we start small we set ourselves up for success. If we immediately try to overhaul our whole morning, we feel overwhelmed and fail right from the start. This doesn’t need to happen overnight. As you slowly start to transform your unconscious behavior into conscious decisions, you’ll notice truly incredible results. What results? A greater control of how your day unfolds. A stronger mindset. An awareness around your ability to make this shift in any aspect in your life. And if nothing else, a true excitement to get up and start your day because you’re beginning it with things you look forward to.
If you want a suggestion on where to start, I’d offer up either meditation or dancing. Both of which, I’ll write in more detail about and both of which have completely lifted and changed my daily life. They bring a strong connection to your soul and unbelievable control over your mindset. They lift things that are stuck from your body and bring such a sense of peace and joy overtime.
Whether you’re convinced or not, below is what I’ve slowly built my mornings to include and it’s been really life changing. It’s even motivated me to work harder on building my dream business and put a great deal of my life in motion. Feel free to grab any of these suggestions and make them your own! I have an amazing little fur-baby who immediately demands my attention so instead of using that excuse to forego what’s best for me, I tend to his needs and then head right back to where I started! I make it work for me and you can too.
Wake up around 7am thanks to my pup’s natural sleep cycle
Roll out of bed, take Winston out, make his breakfast and pour myself 24oz of warm water with a half a lemon squeezed in it (and sometimes with raw ginger, too)
Head back to the bedroom and lie on the floor for some light stretching to just wake up the body slowly and comfortably (I usually run through a couple yoga moves I’d be happy to share!)
Sit on my bed or the floor for a quick meditation, anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Some mornings I’m able to guide myself through and others I’ll use the help of a podcast or another recording!
Journal what bubbled up, what I want to accomplish that day, how I’m feeling, or another intentional exercise. I usually let this flow freely but I always close it with:
Today I know _______, Today I feel _______, Today I choose _______, Today I welcome ______ (the words might seem similar to you but it’s interesting to me how different my answers are - let it resonate in your body and jot down whatever comes to mind!)
I run through my skincare routine which is brief but really wakens up my skin, eyes, and makes me feel a bit more alert (happy to share this, if there’s any interest as well!)
This is my favorite part. I put on my phone or speaker, throw on an upbeat playlist and dance around my room for as long as feels good. Close the door. Close your eyes. And just move. your. body. Don’t think about it. Don’t worry about what it looks like. Just feel the music in your heart and in your soul. Let everything wake up. Let a smile come to your face. And begin your day with true freedom of expression. This will change your world :).
Last but not least, I make celery juice. 16oz on an empty stomach per the Medical Medium’s instructions. It’s amazing starting your day with such a healthful, nourishing experience knowing you’re purposefully doing this to feel good and better yourself.
Get ready for or login to work
Sound crazy? This was built over time. It did not happen overnight and I’ve been able to stick to it because I truly love it…and consistency is key. Might it change? Sure. Would I wake up earlier to make sure I had time to do all these things if I needed to? Absolutely. That’s how much they’ve changed my life — and trust me, this girl loves her sleep. I encourage you to start small and build up to what’s calling to you! You’ll be blown away by how worthwhile it is.
My personal goal is to bring this into my evenings next and maybe put away my phone an hour before bed, set aside time for reading, who knows! Like I said, baby steps and now that I’ve mastered mornings it’s onto nights!
Rise and shine! XO