For a lot of us, mornings SUCK. Some of us are abruptly woken up by our alarm at the crack of dawn..others (like me and a lot of other college students) are struggling to lift our heads before 10:00 a.m. However, I am a firm believer that how you start your morning can very much dictate how the rest of your day is gonna go. I’ve seen this first hand by forcing myself to edit how I start my mornings, and I’ve seen a very positive change in the past few weeks. These aren’t big “do 30 minutes of deep breathing” edits either, because no one has time for that! Just small 5 things I added to my routine that made a big difference.
- GET UP
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This one seems self-explanatory enough. Actually getting up, starting your day, and just doing the dang thing saves a lot of time and can kick start a productive attitude you can keep throughout the day. I’m not perfect at this one (sometimes I do still accidentally scroll through Instagram for 20 minutes) but on days that I do get up right away, I find that it gives me more time to do things without feeling rushed
- Hydrate Before Caffeine
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I’m not sure how many people I can get on board with this one, but if you got a full night’s rest you easily just went 7-9 hours without water, and your body kind of needs it! Coffee is also a diuretic which will dehydrate you even more. Keep a bottle of water right by your bed and DOWN it before even getting up. It will surely help wake you up as well as kick-starting your metabolism and digestion for the rest of the day.
- Make Your Bed
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I once heard, “If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.” Not only will it make you feel better to come home to a cleanly made bed, it just looks better too! There’s no downside to it.
- Check Your (Already Made) To-Do List
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Instead of letting hundreds of thoughts flood my brain first thing after waking up of everything I need to do that day, I found it to be much easier for myself to make a to-do list the night before, and then briefly checking it in the morning. This way you have an organized and planned out list ready for you, which releases a lot of the stress of trying to keep a mental checklist.
- Healthy Breakfast
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This one is a classic but very overlooked. I used to NEVER eat breakfast. Then I would find myself starving by lunchtime, and running on zero energy. You don’t have to make a huge, fancy breakfast either. Finding a small, quick, and easy to prepare breakfast that you like gives you something to look forward to and will give you the energy you need to be your best self! I have personally been loving oatmeal with granola and fruit.
Making intentional choices to have an easier, healthier, and overall less dreadful morning can make a big difference in your attitude for the rest of the day. Mornings don’t have to suck, and if you’re like me, you might even find that you enjoy them!