It’s literally no secret that I am a huge fan of following a routine or ritual for pretty much everything. I especially love a good morning routine because it’s the perfect way to start the day. My morning routine looks a little different every morning depending on how much time I have or really what I need for the day ahead, but I’m sharing my entire morning routine below and how I customize it for specific days.
First things first, before we get into the morning routine it really all starts at night. I’ll dive into my bedtime routine before bed on a different blog post (I wasn’t kidding – there’s a routine for everything), but for now just know that getting to bed at a timely hour so you can get a full 7-9 hours of sleep.
Again, this is just my routine and you can use it as a framework to build your
+ First, I wake up without an alarm. If I can help it, which I usually can, I do not wake up to an alarm. I hate the startle and I feel like that cannot be good for you first thing in the morning. My body naturally wakes up around 5-5:30am and it is the best during the week, but not so fun on the weekends when you just want to sleep in. I am such a morning person, but don’t worry if you’re not. Your body thrives in rhythms and routines so as long as you go to bed around the same time and wake up at the same time most days, that’s a win.
+ Before drinking anything, I rinse my mouth with water and mouth rinse. I used to reach for water as soon as I woke up but it was my chiropractor who actually walked me through why that’s not good for your oral health. While you are sleeping your body goes through a cleansing or detox cycle (which is also why getting plenty of rest is so important). During that cleansing cycle (insert line from back of bottle). Instead of drinking water and washing all of those toxins right back down, rinse them out before you drink something.
+ Start hot water for to sterilize tongue scraper and for hot lemon water. I boil water so I can have it for my hot lemon water which is another step in the routine and I also use the water to sterilize my tongue scraper so I make a big enough pot that I have enough to pour over lemon juice and whatever is left for my tongue scraper. I hope this goes without saying, but don’t cross contaminate here lol.
+ Next up, tongue scraping. This one also goes hand in hand with the mouth rinse step above. I scrape my tongue every single day for oral health. It helps to clear out bad oral bacteria, remove dead cells that cause bad breath, and stimulates your internal organs (perfect for first thing in the morning to slowly wake the body back up). Over time as toxins build up in your body, it can directly impact your mental clarity, bad breath, or even fatigue/lethargy. I never miss the two oral health steps for those reasons.
+ Sip hot lemon water while I flow through the rest of my routine. Hot lemon water is such an easy way to detox your organs and hydrate after going 8+ hours without water. I use an entire whole lemon (juice and peel and whole wedges, don’t be stingy) and also use different supplements to doctor up my water. I’m all about easy ways to incorporate supplements into my routine or else I won’t use them. Below is a list of how I enhance my hot lemon water:
- Add collagen to the hot water before squeezing in the fresh lemon juice so it can dissolve easily. I love Vital Proteins.
- Add brain and liver supplements for brain cognitive function and to detox your liver. I love Organic Olivia.
- Add green tea. I don’t always do this step because I try to limit my caffeine, but green tea is a great antibacterial which ties it all together with the oral health step.
The rest of my morning routine kind of ebbs and flows but if I do the full routine, this is what is included:
+ Meditation. I am a huge advocate for meditation and breath work because both have radically improved my mental health. I use the Headspace app and it’s worth every penny so if you can, invest in the paid version. There is truly a Headspace guided meditation for everything and when I don’t feel like following a specific course, I love the semi-guided meditations.
+ Journaling. I get asked a lot if I follow any specific journaling prompts and I don’t. Writing is such a passion for me so I just write from the heart. I may write about what happened the day before, some thoughts I can’t shake, lessons I’m learning, etc. I do follow my Daily Rae prompts as well whenever I’m stuck on what to write.
+ Quiet time with Jesus. This looks different everyday but there’s usually worship music and some time in prayer, being still before God (separate from meditation) and Bible reading. This is definitely an area I could use some more consistency with though.
+ Morning walk. Quarantine has made me into a walking machine! It’s addicting and I love it so much to clear my head and start the day with intentional body movement. I always always always walk with water in hand – another easy way to hydrate early in the day.
+ Morning stretch. After my walk I stretch for anywhere from 10-20 minutes or I’ll follow an online yoga video. I’m loving the Peloton app right now and they have an extended free trial going on with coronavirus.
Then and only then am I ready to start my day.
Whew – that sounds like a lot, right? Some days I’ll skip a step or other days I might only meditate for 5 minutes vs. 15 minutes, but the most important piece of all of this is to take the time for yourself every morning to start your day on your terms instead of the world’s. Especially taking the time to journal and press into yourself a little more. I call it going deep with yourself and it’s the only way you can grow and start to heal pieces of yourself that you may not even know need healing.
I can definitely tell a difference when I prioritize my self-care versus the days that I don’t and 10 times out of 10, it’s always a good idea to put your mental health and wellbeing first.
Do you follow a morning routine? See anything that you can pull from mine? Thanks for reading!
xx
RSG
