Simple Morning Routine

If you’re a mom of littles you might already be in panic mode just thinking about this topic and I want to calm your nerves bc this episode is NOT about how you need to wake up before your kids to have a good day! 

I am here to help relieve some of your morning stress and share with you the simplest morning routine for even the busiest of moms. 

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “own your mornings own your days.” If you want to make the most of your days you have to get up early. But if you’re like most moms You probably haven’t set an alarm for years because your kids are your alarm clock, your mornings are chaos, but you just can’t fathom getting up early in the mornings. 

I’m gonna be honest though, the seasons where I have gotten up early it has helped relieve a lot of stress. I’m not reacting to the day I’m being proactive. I can’t deny that, BUT

Sometimes there will be seasons where it’s not beneficial and it would do more harm than good for you to get up early. And those are the moms I’m talking to today. Know the season of life you’re in and embrace it. Certain advice and tips and routines will work for you in one season and not in another and that’s okay. Things are ever-changing in life and in motherhood and we have to be flexible. 

When I had my 3rd baby a little over a year ago, I really struggled with owning my mornings. Even while I was pregnant I was still getting up early most days, having my quiet time, writing in my gratitude journal, drinking my tea or decaf coffee in silence and while it was still hot, or listening to music, just a very slow but productive morning all before my kids got up. But then things changed.

For the last year, I’ve had a baby who didn’t sleep very well, and the only way that we got any sleep was for him to be in bed with me. This is not an episode about co-sleeping, please don’t come to me with your thoughts on this if you disagree, because then you’re missing the whole point here. Moms you do you. If cosleeping works do it, if cry it out works, do it, if Ferber works do it, – Remember this is not a parenting podcast, I’m not here to give parenting advice I am here to help moms with their mindset. But you know there is so much angst when someone does something differently than you in parenting so I wanted to get that out of the way. 

But on that subject, – I just want to say that If you are confident in your parentings, you will never feel the need to judge or criticize another mom or parent. Yikes. You’re probably thinking wow did she just say that? Yupp I did because it’s the truth. 

And if that tweaked you the wrong way or triggered you or infuriated you – remember it’s not about what someone else is saying or doing- it always goes back to you and how you react to things. We have to take ownership of our thoughts and reactions like I talked about in the very first episode. 

Here are the things When we have a strong reaction to something it’s usually a really good indicator that there’s room for growth in that area of our lives. I’m going to dive deeper into this and actually devote an entire podcast episode to this topic so stay tuned for that next week! 

Phew! This was just supposed to be a simple morning routine episode and you’re getting hit with all these truth bombs! 

Back to the morning routine. I was really struggling because I knew how much getting up early helped me before but this was not the season for it, when you’re waking every few hours and basically nursing a baby all night long, getting up early is not really going to help. You’re already sleep-deprived, so cutting that sleep, even more, is not really beneficial. 

Not to mention for me, if I were to get up out of bed my baby would wake up immediately. Trust me I tried A LOT and it just left me frustrated. But no one was talking about a morning routine that would work for my specific phase of life. So I stopped getting annoyed with the lack of resources on this topic I started getting creative. I knew I had to come up with a super basic routine that would still get my mindset in the right place, that would still help me start my day off by being proactive instead of reactive, and that would set me up for success but in the littlest time possible. 

Is anyone else tracking with me?? Anyone else needs really simple?? 

So I started thinking and brainstorming and this is what I came up with. It’s been so beneficial for me and whats ironic is that as I’m recording this episode, I’m now starting to enter into a new phase with my mornings where I can get up earlier if I need to because my little guy is finally sleeping on his own and is sleeping much better. But while all of this is fresh in my head because it’s been living for the last year, I wanted to share it with you moms. 

So here it is: My super simple 3 step routine

And what’s great about it, is the first two steps you can do while you’re in bed. You don’t even have to get up yet. And technically if you plan it right you could do the third step in bed as well. 

So here we go…. Step one: Say to yourself “Today I choose joy” It’s that simple. Our brains are so impressionable first thing in the morning. That initial 20 minutes will alter the course of the day for better or for worse. So the very first things you want to be saying to yourself are really important to help set the tone for the day. JOY is a choice! It’s not a feeling, it’s not an emotion, it’s not happiness – you can still have joy in the worst circumstances of life. It doesn’t mean that you have to be happy but you can still have joy. First thing when I wake up, I let my brain know TODAY we are choosing joy! No matter comes my way I am choosing joy. 

Your brain retraining your brain to start the day off with joy and peace instead of chaos. And every day that you do this you’re building a habit and a pattern and you are developing new grooves and pathways in your brain. Every time you repeat something you’re making that groove deeper and deeper in your brain. This also goes the opposite way with negative thoughts too. If you’re constantly repeating negative thoughts to yourself, those grooves in your brain are getting more and more solidified. So If you are waking up every single morning and saying to yourself today I choose joy. Soon you’re not even going to have to tell yourself that because your mind will automatically do it. It will become so ingrained in your mind that you will wake up and bam your mind will go to that positive place. 

Continuing on with the positive mindset brings us to step TWO: Think about 3 things that you are grateful for. And just say them to yourself. You don’t have to write them down, although I do love my gratitude journal sometimes in the mornings I wouldn’t have a free hand to write things down and then I would get frustrated because I couldn’t do part of my morning routine. I realized I needed to change things up for the season I was in and be okay with just thinking the 3 things I was grateful for. And if at some point later on in the day I had a few minutes to write it down then awesome I would do it. But don’t put all this added pressure on yourself for the perfect morning routine that it ends up causing you more frustration. That defeats the purpose. 

What’s really cool is When we operate out of joy and gratitude we are operating out of our highest energy vibrations, but on the flip side when you’re operating out of insecurity, fear, guilt, despair, powerlessness (meaning you’re not taking ownership of things) you’re operating out of the lowest energy vibrations. Friends, You have the power to move and down the scale. We often refer to it as retuning our vibrations. So why not start the day off at the highest point?! And if you have no idea what I’m talking about look up the emotional guidance scale by Abraham hicks and I’ll even link to it in the show notes. It’s really fascinating when you start studying energy levels and vibrations. Maybe some of this sounds a little wooe to you- but everything is energy. Every single object consists of little molecules that are vibrating and our bodies are no different with energy levels. You can walk into a room and feel the energy level- whether it’s high or low. This scale dives into that a little bit more. 

If you look at it the first two-step of this morning routine has you focusing on joy and gratitude so that you can operate out of those highest levels. 

Step 3: Is more for your physical health. The first two were for your mental health and the third step is for your physical health. This is not going to be an earth-shattering idea here,,, but step 3 is Drink a large glass of water. That simple. Start your day hydrating yourself. Most of us do not drink enough water throughout the day, and I’d venture to say a lot of us actually wake up dehydrated. Your body needs water to function. It’s going to help your brain, it’s going to help every function of your body. You might be tempted to skip over this one, but don’t. Because it’s just as important as the first two. And like I said before if you plan it outright and have a big glass of water next to your bed for when you wake up, you can do all 3 of these steps before your feet ever hit the ground in the morning. 

Just to recap – this super simple routine only has 3 steps 

1. Step 1 – Tell yourself “Today I Choose Joy” 
2. Step 2 – Think about 3 things you are grateful for 
3. Step 3 – Drink a big glass of water. 

Now I have a bonus tip for you, but these 3 steps I just shared are the basics. Start doing this and your mornings and your days will improve! 

But If you’re looking for a little extra – I would also add in there don’t look at your phone, or scroll social media for the first 20 minutes of your day. Like I said that’s the most impressionable time of your day. If you want to use your phone to listen to some worship music, or a podcast or an audiobook or something like that to help get your mind in the right place that’s a great idea but I wouldn’t be checking messages or social media or anything like that. 

That’s just a little extra But I don’t want to overwhelm with too many extra things because I want to keep it simple. If you were listening to this and you’d like to dive more into a solid morning routine because you’re in a season of motherhood where getting up early would benefit you – then I recommend reading The Perfect Day Formula by Craig Ballantyne. It’s a really quick book. You can get the audio version and it will take Less than 3 hours to read the whole thing. That’s a great resource if you’re ready for the next level. 

I hope this helps you guys! DM me on Instagram @megan_milakovic and tell me all about it. I want to hear from you and how this podcast is helping you!