Real Talk: Mornings

A morning routine.

Something for successful people who have all morning to lounge, drink coffee and plan how they are going to spend their millions. This was literally my idea of what kind of person had a morning routine.

But for the last couple of years, from different books I’ve read and people I’ve chatted with, I’ve come to realize that you don’t reach a certain level of success and then have these amazing routines. You have the routine that lays the foundation for successful…. What the?!?! Mind… blown… am I right?

But at the same time as this realization, I was almost due with my third child and knowing that my morning routine would consist of feeding a baby and maybe showering every four days or so, I didn’t push myself too hard to try and implement this in my life. At this same time I was waking up in the early hours of the morning to teach English to Chinese students so starting a morning routine where I would wake up early than I already was sounded like literally the worst thing I could do for my mental health. 

However, the more I heard others talk about morning routines and more importantly the RESULTS they were seeing because of their morning routine, I began to realize that if I were to make serious strides with my goals, this was something I needed to do.

Hey, listen, you don’t have to take my word for it, read what the Queen herself, Rachel Hollis, writes about morning routines in her book, “Girl, Stop Apologizing!”

“It’s hard to believe that having a good morning is such a key factor for setting yourself up for success, but it really is… if you own the morning then you own your day.”

And then it hit me. I’m waking up to feed the baby. I wake up to teach Chinese kids half way across the world on my computer from my cold basement office. But I won’t wake up for myself. I won’t do it.

As women, though, we are good at this. We are good at putting other people's needs before our own. It seems easier to do things for others but we don’t extend this same charity to ourselves. 

Rachel Hollis (I know I sound obsessed and it’s because I am haha), shares an analogy of us as a vase. We go around trying to fill up others, our children, our spouses, our co workers, our students,  this way and that, eventually tipping over with nothing for ourselves. But, “If you’re a vase and you just stand up tall and proud and on a firm foundation, if you just take in all the things that are being poured into you, what will eventually happen to the water in the vase? It will overflow and spill out to everyone around you.”

Can we talk about this for two seconds? Let’s talk about you filling your vase. Let’s let that thought sink in. Who could you help with your overflowing vase? 

Morning routines are about filling your vase. Morning routines are about showing up for you. We show up for lots of other people, sometimes even complete strangers, but if we can’t show up for ourselves, to replenish, to grow, to nourish, then what are we even doing?

What if you woke up ten minutes earlier? What would you do?  Pray? Write in your journal? Eat a bagel by yourself? The list could go on and on. But what if you woke up just ten minutes earlier, before little hands come to us asking for help opening a fruit snack, what could you do? And before you judge, yes I have let my child have fruit snacks for breakfast. I did. And they are fine. But I digress….

Do this for yourself! And if your wanting inspiration, check back because we have some awesome interviews with women who share all the things about their morning routine and how it helps them own their day!