One of my main goals this year is to work on my morning routine. This is something I’ve been trying to work on for quite some time prior to the new year. But, I could never really get it down packed because different things either come up or get in the way. I won’t get into all the details of what comes up for me but I will share the one thing I know definitely gets in the way and that is social media! Can you relate? I am sure you can or most people could! Lol!
My relationship with social media has been very interesting. It has posed a lot of challenges for me and my mental health in which I learned so much about myself. I certainly have a lot to share about what I’ve been through with social media but I can save that for a different blog post. However, what I will say is that since this blog post is about my morning routine, I noticed that if I am on social media first thing in the morning or if I am on it before I get anything done…it ruins a lot for me. When this happens, I either get in a bad mood or become anxious and it’s hard to snap out of it.
I think what leads me to feel this way among so many reasons is that sometimes I feel like I may be wasting time on social media especially if there are things I want or need to do either for my self-care or goals. So in order to address this, I’ve decided to really focus on my routines and prioritize what is important to me this year.
As I thought about what I want my morning routine to look like, I came up with a different way to call my morning routine. I now call my morning routine, “Mornings With Myself.” When I came up with this I loved it! I feel like using the word “routine” sounds boring. It’s like, “here is another thing I have to do.” Truthfully, “Mornings With Myself” sounds romantic to me (I know that it probably sounds funny but I like it). It sounds romantic because it’s an opportunity to spend time with myself which I enjoy. When I view my morning routines the way I described, it makes me look forward to doing the things I want and need for myself.
The purpose of Mornings With Myself is to spend time with myself by doing different things to self-care or to work toward my goals. Some of these things are:
Stretching
Dancing
Reading
Listening to a podcast
Writing
Meditating
Listening to music
Being with my thoughts & feelings
Journaling
Mornings With Myself can also just be me sitting with my coffee, doing nothing, and/or trying to wake up. I am free to do whatever as long as I stay off social media in the a.m. I would like to make it clear that I don’t do every single thing in the list above. I just pick one or two things from the list that I feel like doing. I learned that it is important to keep your routine as simple as possible.
I came up with this because I realized how much better my mornings and days are when I do the things I want and need first before going on social media. While I am aware that being a blogger and creating content requires me to be on social media, I am learning how to best do this in a way where my mental health is not being affected. This is where I am learning how to prioritize my self-care and my goals and leaving posting and/or checking social media as the last thing I do or at least when I get some things done.
I don’t know but for some reason it feels beautiful to wake up in the morning and do what I want and need first. When I follow and honor my morning routine, I feel like I am more relaxed and have more control of my day. Overall, I feel significantly mentally and emotionally better.
I would like to mention that this is still a work in progress for me. It’s not perfect. On the weekends, I usually allow myself to do whatever. Some days are better than others. But, I am remembering that it’s the small steps that we take that can lead to the changes we want to see and experience.
I hope that by sharing how I am seeing and structuring my morning routines, it can help you or someone else who may be struggling with this or social media. And so to finish this off, I’ll leave you with some tips if you are looking for some help with your morning routine.
4 Ways To Make A Morning Routine That You Look Forward To:
- Romanticize it – I know this sounds silly. But, I guess this is where the question comes in of what is your ideal morning routine? What will fuel you the most? What is it that you want and need? How can you make it more interesting and something you look forward to doing?
- Rename it – Does the word routine sound boring or like another task you have to do? Call it something else then! Feel free to use “Mornings With Myself” Maybe you are spiritual or religious and you can call it “Mornings With God.” Get creative!
- Keep it simple – Make a list of things that you can pick 1 or 2 things from each morning. The key is to not give yourself a whole bunch of things to do.
- Be understanding of yourself and be flexible with your routine – Our thoughts, feelings, and moods are different each day so it’s important to be flexible in giving yourself what you need depending on what is coming up for you. For example, one day you might wake up anxious so you may want to journal it out. Another day, you might feel tense so maybe dancing or stretching might be needed to find some relief.
Thank you for reading <3
If you got up till this point, can you relate? Was there something you learned from this post? What has worked or not worked for you in your morning routine? What role is social media playing in your day to day life?
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