It Isn’t Your Morning Routine Setting You Up For A Good Day

Surprise

I am morning routine’s number one fan. I wake up by 5:45am every morning. I change into workout gear, unroll my yoga mat, and pull up YouTube on my iPad. I finish up my workout and turn on the coffeemaker on my way to the shower. I shuffle between our bedroom and the bathroom for the next 20 minutes as I get ready for the day. An hour after I’m up, I’ve picked up my journal and I’m settled in to work on my morning pages.

Do you hate me yet for being so freaking rigid in my routine?

For a long time, I didn’t. I admittedly find joy and confidence in the consistency of my morning. Still do. What’s changed for me isn’t the desire to have a morning routine, it’s the belief that the rigidity of the routine is necessary. Being so rigid isn’t the aspect of a morning routine that makes me a kinder, warmer, happier human.

All the parts that have thus far fallen into the container of “my morning routine” are just that — interchangeable parts. They worked for as long as they did because they helped me understand the path from where I started to where I wanted to go. Yoga in the morning was necessary because it was the only time I knew I would do it. Now, I like it more. I enjoy the practice so the morning is an option, but it’s not my only window for practicing.

Taking time for myself, early in the morning, with pockets of quiet I didn’t have to fight my schedule, family, or life for is all my morning routine needs to be. The “me” time can morph into new hobbies or rituals, so long as I let them.

I say this because I think we put too much pressure on the components of a morning routine. The narrative feels too tied to us getting it “right” instead of encouraging us to find what’s “right for us right now” and admitting that this will naturally ebb and flow. Getting up at 5am every morning won’t make you a more productive human if the idea of waking up early makes you a cranky human from the start.

Your morning routine isn’t setting you up for a good day — you are.

The trust you have in your ability to know what’s good for you and what isn’t and what you’re needing more of in your mornings — that’s what’s making a difference on the kind of days you will have. A routine for the sake of a routine never got anyone anywhere.

I encourage you to jot down the things that actually bring you joy in the morning — a walk, coffee, playing with your dog — and add those to your morning. Make it a routine to do things that make you happy from the minute you wake up so that later in the day, when life gets layered and hard, you can remember that you have the freedom to make a choice towards happy all by doing the simplest things at your reach.

I write about creativity, mental health, grief, and how to cope with life’s everyday challenges on VivNunez.com. Follow along on my Instagram for mini-essays on the same topics, and sign up for a weekly newsletter of encouragement.