A STRESS FREE AM?

I don’t know about you, but my mornings are busy….

5:30-5:45AM: I *try* my best to wake up and workout
6AM: Wake up my older 2 sons for school
6:30AM: Start checking morning emails
7AM: Get older 2 sons off to school
7:15AM: Wake up my younger 3 kids
7:30AM-8:30AM: Breakfast/Make lunches/Get them off to school
9AM: Dive into work for the day

As you can tell – from 5:30-9AM – it’s constant forward motion without stopping.

Here’s the thing – on mornings when I feel chaotic and stressed about the kids being late or rushing around…my day always inevitably becomes stressed, too. And that’s not good. I knew that I needed to put a stop to that (as best as I could) in the New Year.

Since January 1st, I’ve been bringing in some new strategies to help keep myself moving in the AM. When I kick off the day on a positive note – my whole day is good and positive!

What am I doing? These three things…

1) Morning meditation. I’ve heard so many people talk about the power of morning meditation and what it does for them — so I started. I simply spend 10 minutes every morning before I get out of bed breathing in and out, thinking about the things I’m grateful for in my life. It’s a perfect way to kick off my day.

2) I love to workout in the morning. I don’t do anything crazy, just 20 minutes of walking or running on my treadmill, but it feels great! I turn on my playlist that gets me going and I’m ready!

3) I pour myself a cup of coffee and go through my emails, as my older sons are getting showered and dressed, right after I workout. I have a rule where I don’t do work in the morning, I kick off my day at 9AM… but that being said, I love quickly scrolling through my emails with a cup of coffee just to get a jump start on what can be deleted and what needs to be flagged.

Find what will give you peace in the morning.
Find what will give you energy to kick off your day.
Find what you can give yourself in the morning to make your day less stressful and chaotic.

Take time in the morning to give it to yourself.