I will be honest with you: it has taken me years to properly develop a morning routine that felt right. When Levi & I first got married, it was a rich time of personal growth. It was the first time I had truly lived on my own (other times had only been in dorms). Leaving my parents house and getting a place of my own, with my new husband, forced personal reflection out of me. Collectively, Levi and I made many decisions together: how to organzie the living room, what colour towels we wanted, what kind of drinks we needed in our house at all times. However, the desicion of how I choose to occupy my time was ultimately up to me. At this time, Levi was working concrete, which required him to be up very early. When I started my day, it was just me in the house, with a blank slate of time ahead of me before I had to go to work.

This was when I first started considering what types of things I wanted to include in my morning. Over the past three years, I have tried out a lot of different “styles” of morning routines. In each season I am drawn to a different one. There have been months when I am very structured, following an timed outline, checking off the list before I start my work for the day. Some seasons, I have not had a morning routine at all. I get out of bed, find my phone and start working within the first 10 minutes of my morning. Spoiler alert: that does not make me feel great.

In this season, I have realized my morning routine is less about following a set of rules, and more about the intention behind why I have a morning routine. For me, it is extremly important to begin my day from a place of calm, still and gratitude. I want each morning to be a time when I set my focus and direction for the entire day. My brain seems to function a bit differently day by day, so the way that I have found a happy medium is by having a set of non-negotiables, and then a set of things that I could include depending on how I am feeling.

My Non-negotiables

• Scrolling is not the first thing I do. My phone charges in the kitchen, which helps a LOT. Not being on my phone in the morning is hands down the most important part of my day.
• Make my bed
• Hydrate! I have a rule for myself that I have to drink water before having any type of caffiene, which helps a lot
• Sit at my table or couch. What I do depends on the day, but I always start at my kitchen table or couch because those are two places where I don’t usually do any work, so it feels very separte for me!

Depending on the Mood

These are different things I do in the morning, but not EVERY morning. Sometimes I only have 15 minutes before I need to get to work, other days I want to linger and start my day later because I need to do something creative before the day begins.

• Journalling
• Reading
• Prayer / Silence
• Creating: painting, collaging, drawing
• Moving: going on a run or walk
• Listening to my morning spotify playlist

It has taken me years to realize that following someone else’s perfect morning routine may seem easier, in the end, it is much harder, because I am not allowing space for my soul to function in the way it wants. Creating the structure for my day based on my own personal energy level has truly changed my mornings.