We all remember just how traumatizing 2020 was. From living our normal everyday life to having it turned completely upside down, it was an emotional roller coaster ride, to say the least. If 2020 taught me anything, it’s that I thrive off of routine and hate change. Last March, when everything with COVID-19 started happening, I finally got the chance to sit and reflect on my life for a few months. I realized just how much I wasn’t a morning person; I was always so tired in the morning and was late for anything planned before lunchtime. It wasn’t until I started watching YouTubers who would do “a day in their life” videos that I realized I had no such thing as a morning routine. I would watch YouTube videos of people just going on about what they did in their everyday lives, and I was always so amazed at how much stuff they got done in the morning. As for me, it seemed like by the time lunchtime rolled around, the only thing I had accomplished was brushing my teeth and watching a few episodes of Friday Night Lights. And then the rest of my day was spent trying to accomplish everything on my very long to-do list in just a short couple of hours. That is when I decided that I was going to make a morning routine that I would actually follow and the goal of doing this was to get a head start on the day.
The most important part of a morning routine is that it needs to be something that is realistic for you. I would see people on youtube who would get up at 5 in the morning and start their day, and I knew that no matter how hard I tried that getting up at 5 in the morning everyday is something that I would never be able to do in my everyday life AND THAT IS OKAY! You have to find a routine that works for you and only you. Every morning I wake up at 7:30 a.m. and start my skincare routine. After that, I make my bed and then make my way over to my desk, where I journal and plan my day out. When that is done, I grab whatever book I am reading at the moment and read for 15 minutes. After I have completed all those tasks, I start my day. It only takes me around 45 minutes to do my whole morning routine. By the time I’m done, it is usually around 8:15, and I am up and feeling awake and ready to start my day. This has improved my life in so many areas; now that I wake up earlier, I get so many more things done during the day and don’t find myself sitting at my desk ‘till 2 in the morning trying to finish everything before I go to sleep.
It is also important that you remember to give yourself rest days, there are some days that I sleep in till 11 and don’t do any part of my routine, and that is again OKAY. Because what I learned from creating a morning routine is that since I am up so early and have so much more time in my day. That I tend to jam pack my days now because I can, which leaves me feeling more tired than usual. Giving your body time to catch up on sleep and adjust to your new normal is just as important as the morning routine itself. And the most important thing of all is to make sure your morning routine works best for YOU!