What If Your Morning Wasn't About Getting Ahead?
Starting the day grounded instead of grinding
I’ve always been a morning person. Something about the stillness of the morning, but also the opportunity to get things moving again, always excited me. With that has definitely come my very ambitious moments of a 3:30am wake up time to get to the gym, go to work, do all the things, come back, get to bed early and do it all over again. Then, of course, there were the times where that ambition was far too much, and I did none of that but I tried.
Then I stepped into my favorite era of me…the era where I began to romanticize my moments.
I guess you can say I’ve always had a way of doing this to some capacity (call it the lover girl in me🏹), but there came a time that I was so overwhelmed with everything else going on around me that the one thing I could control was the way I chose to be present in my daily routines and habits. Needless to say I stuck to this and it has slowly evolved ever since.
We often read about or hear about how starting your day on your phone isn’t the best choice, and it basically sets you up for a day where you’re seeking a dopamine boost through your phone to some degree. Naturally, this was the first change I put into practice, along with wanting the morning exposure of sunlight to reset my circadian rhythm. This was easy because at this time we had just bought a house towards the central part of Florida, and hearing the birds chirping was a luxury that I didn’t know I craved.
(hearing the birds chirping in the morning is a Disney princess cliche for a reason…)
Taking this pause allowed me to calm my nerves, even on days I was in a hurry because I had to get to my retail job, or the days where I had the opening shift at the daytime cafe. If you’ve read through any of my writings before, you’ll know that I am a follower of Jesus and have loved the Lord my whole life…but right at the beginning of stepping into this “romantic” era, I was navigating some hard transition and a lot of emotional baggage, as a result of choosing to do life my own way. I wasn’t leaning on Him for comfort but something shifted. I made a choice to stop the foolery and ask God to intervene. I say this to say that I didn’t find peace on my own. I found peace in my heavenly Father, decided to slow down, and the rest followed.
I stopped looking at things as simply tasking, but instead walking in purpose towards something.
This has now been a journey of 4 years of ebbs and flows of growth and adjustment. I still look for romance in everything. I still plate my food as pretty as possible, I keep morning screen time little to none (not perfectly but for the most part), and most importantly, I make it a point to start my day speaking to God before I speak to others. Whether in person, or online. As a result to these shifts, I regulate my nervous system, I allow the Lord to take over any sight of crankiness that may have started, I invite the Lord into my day, I make the choice daily to follow Jesus to my best ability (even when I fall short), and this overall sets me up for a strong start.
What I had to learn was that a solid morning routine wasn’t at all about “productivity” but instead was about how present I was.
Think about it like this, sure you can check everything off your list, check all the boxes, but how’s your heart? How’re your cortisol levels? How’s your nervous system?
What good is it to get everything done while you’re running on empty?
Here’s the hard truth… you’re no good to anyone if you’re not showing up as your full self. And you can’t be your full self if you never know who that is.
That’s the practical side of this conversation. But we all know that logic and reason isn’t what will keep us grounded – instead here’s some truth:
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5
“You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.” Psalms 23:5
You can’t pour from an empty cup. Everything we do in life is for the sake of serving others – think about it… Whether you work for a company, work from home, run a business, or run a home, you are serving someone.
Own your morning, that doesn’t have to be a 12 step, 3 hour routine – unless that works for you, because as you should, queen.
If not, this can simply be taking a deep breath, thanking God for waking you up this morning, and maybe taking in some fresh morning air before getting your day started for work.
Conquering your morning is actually about surrender more than it is structure. Having a surrendered morning doesn’t mean you give it to everyone else, but rather you surrender your day in God’s hands.
Your morning is a sacred space. If you wake up, there is a purpose for the breath in your lungs (that alone should spark some joy in you, babe).
The day is a gift, and you are here for a purpose on purpose. Take the morning as the moment where you ground yourself in that truth, and remove the idea of letting the day run you, but rather you walk in it with intentionality and purpose.
This may take time, and the process is ever-evolving but that’s the beauty of it!
Here’s how I’ve recently designed my mornings:
Wake up - no snooze - stretch simple, quiet prayers (more like a Thank you Jesus for a new day)
Oral hygiene (probably one of my favorite steps)
Fill my water bottle and take my supplements
Sit at my desk for bible study and quiet time
Morning Movement (likely a walk)
Breakfast
Get to work
The order sometimes varies when it comes to movement and breakfast depending on what we’re doing, and like I said, this does not always go as planned but to some degree, I try to get up to my bible study as consistently as possible.
Your routine will (and should) evolve with you, but don’t forget to make it cute, make it fun, and keep it intentional.
What do your mornings look like?! I love to learn from other’s routines!
