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This Morning Routine Will Improve your Mood
Waking up is the hardest.
The alarm sound I have blares like a fog horn, guiding ships back to shore and me back to reality. It’s morning.
NOPE.
Nope is the only word I can muster so early, so dark. I roll back over, dreamily patting myself on the back for giving plenty of time to snooze. I think through how much time I actually need to get ready in the morning and barter with myself. Anything for an extra ten minutes. Three snoozes later and the inevitable has arrived. It’s time to get up.
If you’re anything like me, my morning is spent feeling groggy and grouchy. Here’s a few quick ways to revamp your morning routine and feel revived instead of like road kill. Like the list? Enjoy the pdf version and a free morning routine scheduler here.
This Morning Routine Will Improve Your Mood
Get started the night before.
Let’s work smarter and not harder, shall we? Put your coffee machine on a timer, make your lunch for the following day, set your clothes out, and compile all the things you’ll need as you run out of the house the next morning.
Don’t hit the snooze button.
The phrase may hurt me more than it hurts you. Putting your alarm clock across the room and forcing yourself to get up can make things much easier. Set your coffee machine to brew at the same time of the alarm. If you don’t wake up for you, do it for the coffee that’s currently getting cold.
Stay off your phone.
I know, we all do it. But our morning sets the stage for the day and reaching toward social media can be negative and filled with comparisons, materialism, anxiety, and loneliness.
Surround yourself with things that make you happy to get up.
Reward yourself by waking up in the morning with things that bring you joy. What a great way to start the day! That could be a warm beverage, turning on the fireplace, going on a back patio, listening to your favorite tunes.
Drink a glass of water.
Chances are, you haven’t drank anything in hours. Your body will feel groggy if its dehydrated and unfortunately coffee dehydrates. Replenish your body!
Get your body moving.
Some people swear by hitting the gym at 5 am. That’s FANTASTIC. If that’s not you, have no fear. A 10 minute workout, brisk morning walk, or even stretching can be a good way to wake up those muscles that can help you feel your best.
Take a warm bath or shower.
It doesn’t have to be a long one, but even rinsing off can help our 5 senses be refreshed and reinvigorated. The warmth is relaxing to your muscles and helps loosen you up for the day.
Spend some time in solace and solitude.
You can spend your life getting your body ready for the day but it’s the soul that really matters. Your day will be filled with negativity, doubts, anxieties, and distractions. Take this time to center yourself on who God is and who you are. Morning devotionals, prayer time, and worship are the perfect ways to remember who you’re living your day for.
Overview your day and what needs to get done.
A mark of a successful person is how organized you are. Take some time at the start of the day to reorganize and reorient. Strategize in your calendar how to spend your time that day. Having a game plan helps ease anxiety, which leads to a better mood. Need help strategizing? Click here.
How to Take An Effective Mental Health Day
Let’s take a day.
First of all, imagine taking the WHOLE DAY. It blows your mind right? Feels impossible? What if we tried it? Here are the components of an effective mental health day. Which ones have you already tried?
Start with a morning routine.
What do you need for the perfect morning? Some may want to sleep in, others may need to wake up early while it’s still and calm. What makes this day effective is that you get to decide.
Next, engage in a relaxing morning routine. Need ideas? Try out a couple here.
Assess what you need for a mental health day versus what you want.
The trick is to assess what will recharge you rather than just help you shut off. Think of it like charging your phone. We need to recharge the phone and also turn it off and back on again. Very different! The trick to an effective mental health day is to do both!
Things that shut us off: Watching television, scrolling through social media, drinking, playing video games.
Things that recharge us: being outdoors, cooking, reading, listening to podcasts, journaling, personal introspection, using face masks.
Need more ideas? Try here!
If what you want to do is sit in bed, binge eat Cheetos, and drink wine all day, that might not be the most helpful. Which leads us to our next point.
Sometimes self-care is doing all the fun and relaxing things, however self-care is also doing the things that we need.
It’s all about balance. Self-care can be hiking, lounging, and getting take-out. It can also be folding laundry, setting up a savings account, or picking up groceries.
Here are the questions to ask yourself to create a balanced day of wants and needs:
What are the things that I’m stressing about today that could be handled quickly? Only pick a couple and make a list of the to-do’s to get done the next day.
Do I recharge when I’m with friends or on my own?
If I choose to relax with friends, can I be sure they will pour into my life or will they exhaust me?
What are the things I normally avoid? Quiet time? Chores? Fun? Do I avoid them because they are bad for me (we do avoid things that are hurtful to us, like toxic family) or because they are good for me but I do not believe I deserve good things, especially when they require work.
What do I want to feel by the end of the day? What can I do that will ensure that feeling?
What bad choices could I make today that I need to be careful of? I.e. excessive drinking, excessive eating, gambling, overspending. How do I safeguard from reverting to any of these options?
Pick at least one thing that would help recharge the five senses. The five senses are a great way to reduce anxiety and stay grounded. Need some ideas for self-care around the five senses? You can grab that here!
Make sure your mental health day is covering all your bases.
The best ways to integrate self-care into all aspects of your life is to look at these different categories: contextual, spiritual, physical activity, intellectual, nutrition, sensual, emotions, and relationships. Is there any category that is lacking? Spend more time there! Need ideas per category? Here ya go!
Plan out your day but solidify it in grace.
Mix between a few things you need to get done for your self-care and some fun ones. The schedule will help maintain accountability, yet should not be held too firmly. This day is meant to be relaxing, not a disappointment if every task was not met. Self-compassion is the whole point of the day.
Don’t forget that mental health is all in the mind.
Lastly, while self-introspection is listed as an option for this day, it’s really a necessity for mental health. Sometimes, when we take time to mentally process, it can easily spiral into negativity. That’s not helpful for a successful mental health day unless you have the tools to process it fully. A good way to stay positive and internally engaged is to spend time in gratitude!