“Romanticize your life. Take coconut cult, sea moss, and probiotics in the morning. You need this silk pillowcase. Use mouth tape every night. You need these vitamins.”
Social media pushes this consumerism-oriented morning routine you “need” to live a “good” life. Yes, routine is essential for mental and physical well-being, but this picture perfect routine filled with an excessive list of tasks can often just result in stress, feelings of failure, and a lack of fulfillment.
Today, I want to dive deeper into how you can have that perfect morning routine; not the one that’s “perfect” for excessively affluent influencers you strive to have the lifestyle of. Instead, you have the power to create the routine that’s perfect for you, that will help you achieve your goals, feel better, more confident, more healthy, and more focused. You have the choice to implement a routine that works for you.
First, the most important aspect of creating a morning is having a time you wake up, and being consistent with that time. Waking up when your alarm goes off and making your bed every morning creates a deep trust within yourself, because you did what you promised yourself you would. Once you set your routine, actually following through with it is what is going to build that accountability and confidence that you can do what you say you will.
There’s no such thing as a perfect routine, but here are some of my suggestions that will increase your mental clarity, excitement for life, and physical health:
- Journaling or Gratitude Practice: Improves clarity, boosts your mood, reduces stress, and sets a positive mindset that will determine the mindset for the rest of your day.
- Drink a Glass of Water: Rehydrates the body after sleep, jumpstarts your metabolism, helps flush out toxins and get a healthy start to your day.
- Make a healthy breakfast: Provides nutrients to kickstart metabolism for the day, enhances your brain function, and stabilizes blood sugar levels. (Some ideas are a healthy yogurt bowl, eggs for abundant protein, avocado toast, etc.)
- Cold Shower or Face Splash: Boosts alertness, improves circulation, and increases endorphins, setting you up for a good rest of your day.
- Skincare Routine: Keeps your skin healthy, and can increase your sense of self-care and self-confidence as you enter a new day.
- Reading or Listening to a Podcast: Helps stimulate your brain, increase focus, and sets a positive tone.
- Sunlight Exposure: Regulates circadian rhythm, boosts serotonin levels, and increases vitamin D synthesis, which all contributes to better overall health.
- Morning Affirmations: Boosts positive thinking by completely rewiring your brain, strengthens your self-belief and overall inner confidence, helps with personal growth, and creates a calm and positive mindset.
Besides these individual benefits, why should you have a morning routine? No matter what you incorporate in your routine, science proves that simply having consistency drastically improves your discipline and willpower, by strengthening your self-control and training yourself to maintain consistency. Bella Puskar (11) says “Being consistent in my morning routine has put me in a better mood, helped my health, and raised my grades,” proving that routine can completely shift the trajectory of your day. This mindset of maintaining consistency will bleed into other aspects of your life, helping you reach current and future goals. Emma Guastaferro (11) agrees, sharing that “Just making my bed and doing my skincare everyday helps me feel more productive.” Additionally, routine improves decision making, increases resilience to stress, helps you have better sleep quality, and heavily increases your mood and confidence.
