4 Reasons Why You Need a Morning Ritual

Before the pandemic, I lived a life that was always on the go and never made time for me. It was a routine that had every minute accounted for and when there was downtime, I was mentally exhausted to do anything but divulged in my laziness.

Wake up.

Get ready.

Drive to work.

Work.

Head to the gym.

Go home and take care of the animals.

Eat. Shower. Netflix. Bed.

Repeat.

*Somewhere in between all that is time with friends and family.

When the pandemic hit, like most, I was forced to slow down because I had no where to go. For me, it was amazing! What was so freeing to me was having all the time to myself. Now, I did work remote, but I wasn't being energetically pulled in many directions. The best part...when I closed that lap top I was already home.

Initially, creating my morning ritual was just my way to do some productive things for myself before work. Before I realized it, this ritual became the most important part of my day as I noticed a huge shift in my inner peace.

Here are 4 things that I gained from a morning ritual:

It mentally set me up for the rest of the day.

I began to notice that starting my day calm and peaceful set the tone for the hours to follow. I was subconsciously setting the intention of having a low stress day. Don't get me wrong, life is still stressful, but I realize I have a better time managing it as my stress was not compounding from the second I got out of bed. There have been days where I will skip my morning ritual and it's not a coincidence that those days are harder to manage.

It has given me a sense of accomplishment first thing in the morning.

Starting off the day with my morning ritual has allowed me to get some of my "to-do" things off my list. In fact, there are many mornings that after I am done, I will end up running a quick errand that I no longer need to save for after work. Waking up with a mindset of getting the fun things done first, motivates me to keep the momentum of productivity.

I feel in control of my time.

Starting off my day with a morning ritual gives me a sense of control over my time and day because I checked things off the list that were really important for me; meditating, enjoying my walk with my dog, journaling...etc. Because I was able to accomplish these personal tasks and sometimes an errand when I wanted to be an overachiever, I didn't have this sense of being rushed to get things done. These items were now checked off my list and I could proceed with my other responsibilities that required a lot of my attention.

It's my daily self-care.

Having a morning ritual isn't just about getting a head start on the day, but it's actually a form of self-care. We often associate self-care with getting your nails done or a massage and while it is self-care, it does not penetrate to your soul. I use my morning ritual as a time to check in with my emotions, mood and soul. Depending on what I find will vary on what I do and now my self-care isn't a "thing" I do once in a while when life feels overwhelming. My self-care is actually a daily requirement to maintain my inner peace.

I highly encourage everyone to develop a morning ritual. It does not have to be elaborate or time consuming. In fact, it could be just as simple as listening to a motivational podcast on your car ride to work. I've experimented with my morning ritual and have a handful of activities that I may participate in depending on how I feel, so don't be afraid to try new things.

xo

Kristine

To hear more about why you should have a morning ritual, check out episode 4 on The Breakthrough Room.