My updated morning routine

A good morning may not make for a good day, but a bad morning will sure as hell make having a good day harder. So creating a morning routine that is no-fail is essential. Especially if you, like me, are juggling a day job, side hustle, sick loved ones and attempting to become a better artist while the world burns down around you. 

And these days, who’s not?

Like everything else in my life, I’m always looking for ways to improve my morning routine. And since it’s been a while since I updated you all on it, this seemed like a good time. 

Now, don’t worry. I’m not the sort to get up at 5:00, go for a jog, make a green smoothie for breakfast before I sit down to write in my journal for an hour. I don’t even really wish I could be that girl. Sleep is sacred, and I’d like to sleep as late as I can. 

Not all of these ideas will necessarily work for you, or fit in your life. But these are the things I do to get my days started positively.

It all starts the night before

I do not wake motivated. I wake irritated. Everything is a struggle before 8:00, and I feel personally victimized by everything

Everything.

 So anything I can set up in advance is going to help me out a ton. I’m sure you’ve been told a million times before to get your clothes set out the night before and your bag packed if you’re leaving the house. But do you do it? 

Going a step further, I’ve also started meal prepping my breakfast. This is a fancy way of saying I’m making hard-boiled eggs and putting them in my fridge. Meal prepping doesn’t have to be some massive thing that includes chia seeds and weekends spent wrecking your kitchen. It can be as simple as doubling a recipe or boiling some eggs while you’re making dinner. 

Coffee, pets, breakfast

I generally convince myself to get out of bed at either 6:00 or 5:30, depending on when I have to show up at the day job. The first thing I do is start boiling water for coffee because I’m a weirdo who likes using a french press. While it’s boiling I’m taking Oliver out. Then I’ll feed Oliver and Harper. (Bonus tip. If you want to invest in a second alarm clock, feed your cat when you get up. I’ve done this with Harper since she was one year old, and now she licks my eyes to wake me up.)

While the coffee steeps in the french press, I crack open my eggs and move on to my next step.

Getting dressed

Even though I’m working from home right now, I still get dressed in the morning. I even put on a little bit of makeup. I don’t do this to look all fancy for the darling husband or any delivery person. I do this because it puts me into a productive mindset. I could, for sure, choose to spend the day in my favorite lama PJ pants. But I’m not going to feel like really cracking into my to-do list.

Also, I’d have to change to walk Oliver through the day, because my neighbor’s don’t need to know about the lama PJ pants.

Me and the universe

Once I’m dressed and armed with my breakfast, the time has come for some me and the universe time. I take some time to write down anything I remember from my dreams, do some tarot reading and meditation. This normally takes me about thirty minutes total. 

It’s just important for me to have some time, first thing in the morning, when the only voices in my head are mine and the universe. Soon enough all the other voices will crowd in. 

Planning time

Finally, it’s time to check in with my planners. I take a few minutes to update my gratitude log. Then I jot down my to-do list for the day, taking note of any appointments or meetings. Finally, I check my email, mostly for my bank statement. I like to keep track of how much money I’m spending every morning, to keep it from becoming a massive chore at the end of the week. 

All this takes me about an hour. I don’t think a morning routine should take longer than that, or it becomes cumbersome.

This is the routine that’s working best for me right now. So what about you? What do you do in the morning to help you have a better day? Let us know in the comments. 

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