December Eve

Where are my morning people at? Haha .. out of most people that I know, majority are NOT enjoying their mornings as much as they would like to because they say they are not morning people.

I am actually one of those people by nature. It has been a struggle since all I remember myself. I recall my mom pulling me out of bed by my feet to get me to daycare when I was 5 years young. That ONE time I drove her completely crazy ( I am guessing) she poured cold water on me still in bed! lol. Not that I wanted anybody to do that again to me, but that method worked, as a fact.

Now, that I am an adult, I understand the importance of starting your days right. I believe the way you start your day, the way it’s going to go. I also believe that all things we do are due to a habit that we develop by doing it over and over and then calling that behavior ” my character”. I came to realize that I can make myself whatever I want to be as long as I develop the plan how to get there that also in a way works to my mental health and my lifestyle. That being said, I have realized over the years that I could start practicing making changes to my morning routine little by little until I am satisfied with the overall routine at the end. So, I did that and I want to share it with you.

Down below is the list of things ( not in any particular order) that I implemented that helped me the most with turning myself in a better morning person. Due to my owl nature, I still experience resistance of early morning hours. Keeping up with the routine is a constant work in progress. So you all have hope! I promise 🙂

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I have been working on bettering my mornings for awhile now, and at this point I think I reached the level where I am content with how I feel in the mornings, the things that I do and the way I do them. Let’s take a look.

1. One of the hardest things for me in waking up in the morning was the darkness of the room. It is very helpful to sleep in the very dark and quite room but it is not so helpful when it is time to wake up. I won’t even start telling you how many times I slept over by hitting that snooze button and went back to sleep because the room was dark. That’s a whole another story. I received Phillips sunrise alarm clock as a gift for Christmas from by boyfriend ( he clearly knew my struggle lol) and let me tell you – it changed the whole morning game for me! This alarm simulates the sunrise by turning on the light to the intensity that you wish to set 30 minutes prior your actual alarm going off. You wake up with such an ease. It blew my mind at first. There is a bit of a science behind it. Your body starts getting used to the light by sending the signals to your brain to wake up once it senses the light while you are still sleeping, and it takes about 30 minutes for that process to fully happen. For that half hour that light gradually goes to the intensity that you set ( from lightest to brightest) and it is at its fullest the the alarm goes off. I hope this makes sense to you. Once it goes off your brain is technically awake while your body is still asleep. Once you hear that alarm sound and open your eyes, you feel fully awake. Because you actually ARE! Simple science but also pretty fascinating! I can’t imagine my life without this lamp now. The day it breaks, I’ll be ordering the new one with the overnight delivery.
2. Another thing that I find very helpful is drinking a glass of water as soon as you wake up. I keep water on the nightstand when I sleep. Letting the liquid run through your system first thing in the morning helps your body to wake up. Sounds like a very simple and silly things; I insist you try it and feel the difference for yourself.
3. No phone till you leave home (or for at least 2 hours after you wake up). This one might be the hardest to most of us and many can disagree on this with me. Unless you are ruling the country or working on Wall Street, you really don’t need to know what’s doing on on your IG/ FB/ Twitter and so on and who’s doing what. I believe in spending the first hour or two in the morning in peace, setting yourself to a good start by containing your thoughts and energy without outside destruction.

4. This next one didn’t come to me easily and I still think that anyone can try it but it might not be fitting everyone’s lifestyle. It was a long way coming for me- meditate right after you open your eyes. I have started practicing meditation from the advice of few close people. I was very sceptic about the whole thing in general and almost didn’t believe it even works at all. But I gave it A TRY. And let me tell you, at first, it really didn’t work – we are so used to have so many tabs open in our minds that it is very quite difficult to turn off your mind from thinking for the set time and try to not think of routine things but try to relax, disconnect from everything and follow the guidance of the meditation (side note: I use guided meditation for now. Some prefer not guided, I personally feel that I am not on that level yet , I still need help). I have few favorite apps that I use. My experience initially was, that I tried several apps and after awhile I sticked to the ones that I liked most.

5. Yoga / Stretching / Work out / Fasted cardio.

As you can see, I named a few. This is because we are all different in our ways, lifestyles, works schedules, etc. You pick whatever suits YOU. The main point here is to get your body move in one way or another. Some people like to jump up from the bed and go right into jumping jacks, that person is not me haha. I prefer good sow stretching. I also came up with a very simple yoga morning routine that I like to do. Let me know in the comments if you wanted me to share any of these in a separate post.

6. Wash Your Face With Warm Water / Take a Warm Shower.

This is very simple way to help you wake up. It’s like magic. There is not much to say or explain here. When you wake up, just go straight to the sink and wash you face. I am pretty sure that’s what most people do any way haha. But I had to include this in the list, because may be some don’t.

7. Choose Your Tunes.

One word -Music. I don’t know about you, but I LOVE music and can’t possibly imagine any day without listening to my favorites at one point of a day or another. What’s driving without music? I honestly don’t know. So goes for the morning for me. I have to turn on something to play on the back ground. Most of the time I chose something soothing. Morning Jazz Station has been my favorites recently and it has been working pretty well to help me wake up in the better mood. You, obviously, decide what works for you.

8. Write / Review Your Daily Goals.

This has become my new thing just this past year. At first, it felt strange, then it became a norm. Thinking about the things you need to do during the day and writing them down are 2 different things. I personally use my phone to create check lists in the Notes for everyday / week to keep me on track with things.

9. Gratitude journal.

This one is interesting. As a matter of fact, if doesn’t have to be an actual journal. It can be, of course, if you want it. The point here is to make yourself aware of things that you are blessed iwith in life, of good things that happen to you, the people you are grateful for, for your health and the list goes on. I am sure all of us are in general grateful for all that, but it actually makes a difference if you stop for a second, and specifically write down or just in your mind go over things you are grateful for. Your mood will change immediately which will affect your while entire day. It also makes you think of all your accomplishment and how you got where you are in life and who helped you. All of a sudden, it all starts making sense and comes together making you feel a certain way.

10. Get ready The Night Before

How many of is wake up n the morning and then start rushing to think what to wear, what to make for lunch. etc? I am sure, there are many. I can totally relate myself and this is one of the reasons I decided to come up with a better way to have my routine. Prepare your clothes from the night before, think of the lunch food you want to make for the next day, get your work bag ready, anything else that can be pre – made ahead of time to make your time in the morning less hectic.

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I hope this list is helpful to you. It has been a long road for me coming to become a little bit better at doing mornings. I used to be a complete grumpy person in the morning who wouldn’t talk to till two hours after waking up. Even though those days still happen to me, it is not a norm any more after trying to implement the practices from the list above. It is a constant work in progress, but after awhile it almost becomes more of a habit.

Are you a morning person? What are the tricks and practices you do to help you to wake up in the morning?

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