I will say that quarantine from the pandemic has been good for my daily routine. It completely shifted how I do things. My husband started working from home and we chose to homeschool this year, so all 6 of us have been home all day everyday. I love that for so many reasons, but it also has come with a lot of challenges for me! …And so many more dishes as well! I quickly realized I had no time to get things done that were important to me to accomplish each day unless I changed my routine.
I have four young kids and each day was blazing by in a tornado of toy messes and meals, by the end of the day I was ready to melt into my bed and watch a show. I had a realization that if something didn’t change, I’m not going to get any of the things done that I personally want to accomplish. Such as showering, working out, reading the bible everyday, making time to work on my business, and keeping up on the dishes/kitchen.
So during this time, I started falling asleep earlier because I was so tired and waking up early. I slowly pushed my morning wake up to 5am. Then realized that wasn’t enough time to get what I wanted done, so I pushed it to 4:30, then to 4am. I also realized that I only needed 7 good hours of sleep and I was good for the day. In the past, if I ever fell asleep early, I would always wake up around 3:00-3:30 and would have this awkward awake time, then would finally fall back asleep, then my alarm would go off. I wouldn’t really feel very rested, but sometimes just as tired because my alarm went off in the middle of a new sleep cycle. So if I can get to sleep by 8:30 (sometimes 9:00pm), I’ve realized that’s the sweet spot for me to get up by 4:00-4:15am. Sometimes I will wake at 3:45, which is strange to stay, but I feel refreshed getting up a little before my alarm.
I have been doing this for over 6 months now and I truly love this time in the morning to myself where the house is silent and no one needs me for just a little while. Here is the breakdown of my morning routine…
MORNING ROUTINE:
– Alarm 4:00am
– Out of bed by 4:00-4:15am
– Quickly brush teeth
– Do a morning workout: in my bedroom to make it the most convenient. (My husband gets up early now too, so he’s usually awake and downstairs already). For my workout, I only commit to 20 minutes, which helps me not make excuses and if I’m feeling more energetic, then I’ll do more.
– Take a quick rinse off shower, get dressed for the day: I only wash my hair 1x a week after I started using Monat hair products. It’s been a game changer for saving me time and having great hair all week (total win in my book!).
– Drink a glass of water: + grab my coffee
– Bible time: (about 10-20 minutes)
– Work time: I get started on my photography business or anything else that’s important that I want to personally to get done
– Dishes: I run the dishes every night, so my goal is to get the dishes unloaded by breakfast. This helps so much, so any dirty dishes can go straight into the dishwasher throughout the day and I can avoid a massive pile up of dishes, which increases my stress when I have to look at it!
TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED
– Start Small: Set alarm at a reasonable place for the first morning, like 5:00/5:30am depending on when you wake up right now. That will ease you into waking up early and the best part is that it will be much easier to fall asleep earlier that evening because you’ll be really tired.
– Night 2: set it alarm just a little early – you chose maybe 15-30 minutes earlier than that morning before. It will be easier to fall asleep earlier this night because you’ll be tired from getting up early the night before.
– Eat healthy: I’ve noticed a big difference if I’m eating healthy, I’ll often wake up before my alarm and feel pretty good. If I’ve over indulged in pizza or something that is heavy and not healthy, I feel a lot more groggy and I find it harder to wake up.
– Workout: Plan on incorporating some type of workout and time you want to strive for. In the beginning, I would stretch and do some yoga. Now I’m doing more weights and cardio, but I only commit to 20 minutes. Even if that means finishing an incomplete workout… I’m proud of myself for doing the 20 minutes that was my goal. You should set your own time limits and goals for what you want to accomplish. Working out also gives me more energy throughout my day, even if it’s just a little!
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