You can listen to this interview with life coach Chanelle Neilson on the Parenting in Real Life Podcast episode 101. She has lots of great tips to help you create a morning routine you want to get up for, for both the early bird and the night owl.
Waking up early has always been hard for me. My body naturally likes to sleep in later and stay up late. I do some of my best thinking at night and get a second wind of energy to keep me going. My husband, on the other hand, is a total early bird. He naturally wakes up at about 5:30am every morning and has his best thinking time in the early morning. I was always jealous of him, epsecially with a mom of young kids. I craved that early morning time before my kids got up, but it was just so hard for me.
I even taught English to kids in China at 5:30am for 2 years! And I never got used to it. I was so exhausted that I needed to nap in the afternoon which took away productive time. I was even getting 7 hours of sleep at night.
So what do I do?
We recently did an interview with Chanelle Neilson who talked to us about morning routines. And while she encourages you to get up before your kids (which has always been impossible for me), she also emphasizes the importance of a morning routine. A routine that will make you want to get up in the morning.
Before I tell you her tips, Alan and I have been working on this for several weeks since our interview and we are loving our new routines! I don’t get up before my kids, but teaching them that it’s mom’s time has been helpful. They still interrupt me, but Alan tries to keep them from asking me questions while I’m meditating. 🙂 As we have an intentional morning routine, we find that we’re able to be more patient parents.
Tips to Create a Morning Route
Make It About Self Care
When you first get up, make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Do things that fill your emotional bucket. Maybe you need to start your morning calm or need to stretch so you start with yoga. Maybe you need to exercise really hard. Maybe you need to get your thoughts out so you journal. Maybe you need to quiet your mind so you meditate. Pick something that helps you start the morning right.
Create a Good Night Time Routine
Your morning starts the night before! Make sure to get a good night’s sleep with 7-8 hours so you are able to get going in the morning. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, figure out why not and try to make some changes.
One of my favorite pieces of advice from Chanelle was if you have a baby waking up, don’t worry about doing your morning routine first thing in the morning. Do your routine at your baby’s first nap time. When I was a young mom, I didn’t take much time for myself and I was so stressed and exhausted. I was always on edge! If I would have known to do self care during nap time I think it really would have made a difference for me.
Tired When You Wake Up?
If you’re like me and are tired when you wake up even with a good night’s sleep, Chanelle gave a couple of really great tips.
- Take a big drink of water when you first wake up
- Don’t hit the snooze button
- Use a sunrise alarm clock for a more natural wake up
- Use the 5 second rule to get out of bed
- Start your routine with moving your body to wake you up more
What To Do In Your Morning Routine
If you aren’t sure what to do in your morning routine, Chanelle has a freebie to help you figure out your morning routine. Just go to her website to download her Morning Routine Challenge.
Our Morning Routines
Alan and I both love our new morning routines! They consist of yoga, meditation, exercise, and scripture study. And by having a routine to get him going in the morning, Alan is able to start working a bit before his meetings start which helps him get organized for the day.