Water Cooler: Reevaluating our morning routines
With more people returning to working in person, it gives us a chance to re-evaluate the way we go about our day. Perhaps most importantly, it is a chance to craft a new morning routine.
Most everyone had to make a huge routine shift during the pandemic, which means it is about to shift again as things become “normal.” That doesn’t mean however that all our routines have to go back to how they were prepandemic. Some workplaces have now embraced remote work as part of the normal going forward, and many people had time to re-evaluate their hectic schedules during quarantine.
Things have just changed. There are new norms and options, and many have found they have different priorities than they once did. All of these things make this transitional period a great time to refresh our morning routines.
The importance of a healthy morning routine is an old topic. Its benefits have been well documented in clinical psychological research. It may help improve sleep patterns, lower your stress levels for the day ahead, help you feel more in control of your day and better prepare your mind for tackling the challenges that may come your way.
An important step in the morning routine begins before you fall asleep. It may seem overwhelming to think ahead for the morning when you feel like you’ve just sat down to relax. This is certainly true at first, but working on your nighttime routine can give you a calmer and often more positive morning in return. That can carry into the rest of your day, helping build a rewarding cycle and enforce healthy habits.
Your nighttime routine doesn’t have to be torture. Try to find a way to replace one habit that doesn’t make you feel so good, such as “doom scrolling” the news or binging television, with something that brings you pleasure and a sense of ease. This can be anything, but it is best that it doesn’t involve a screen, like reading or taking a bath.
Take care of things that have a tendency to stress you out in the morning, such as setting aside clothes, preparing lunch, jotting down things to do or remember the next day.
Give yourself a deadline for social media, news, notifications, emails and the like. Try carrying this into the next morning by mindfully choosing to not check your notifications until a certain time, even if that’s only five minutes after getting up.
Whatever you choose to start your day with, try to be mindful as to whether it has a positive or negative effect on you. Some like to begin with thinking about or journaling their affirmations or goals for the day, or things they’re grateful for. Others might prefer jumping straight into the shower because otherwise they may fall back to sleep. Some people like to get right to creative work or some exercise, or simply enjoy a cup of coffee with breakfast. Choose what works best for you and your priorities, but keep in mind that it should be realistically attainable for you. Otherwise you will find it hard to stick to.
Start shaping your morning routine a little bit at a time. Replace one negative habit with one positive one. After you get used to that, start adding other things to your routine. You can change things up over time and as you learn what works best for you. The most important aspect is that you are paying attention to your first few actions of the morning and how they affect your day. Recognizing them is the first step to slowly changing them and building a positive morning routine.