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I love love love routine. For some people, routine is boring because it's the same thing over and over again. I mean, it is but I prefer to look at it as structure. I like organization. Knowing this and this is supposed to happen in this way at a certain time. I love that. The down side to it is that when things don't go in that certain way, I get thrown off completely and my day is in shambles.
Why I added "current" to the title of this post is because I switch up my morning routine every so often. Though my current routine is something I'm thinking of making a bit permanent. If not, I'll do an updated morning routine.
Personally, I don't think morning routines should be elaborate. Having too many things to do upon waking up is rather impractical, no? Because at what point do you get to start your day? Anyway, to each his own.
My morning routine comprises of just 5 things after which I'm able to start my day on a high.
Just a btw, unless otherwise, I sleep pretty early. I'm out by 10.30pm without fail. I get a solid 7.5 hours of sleep meaning I'm awake by around 6.00am. Nowadays, my body does this thing where it wakes itself up and I'm glad because I find alarms sickening.
1. Morning Devotion
For my devotion, I use a Bible app which allows one to select plans which they can follow for its duration and upon completion, select another. I like this app because the plans are based on emotions. Are you sad, grateful, worried, grieving, happy, lost...? There's something for everyone and for every emotion - a reading and a scripture to follow up. I enjoy working with plans as opposed to just perusing through the Bible because for me it's like fuel. Spiritual fuel. So I fill myself with some gas every morning to take me through the day.
2. Take a smoothie
I drink my fruits and veggies as opposed to taking them solid. It's a habit I've acquired over time. Before I sleep, I blend select fruits and almond milk then refrigerate overnight and take first thing in my morning.
3. Pilates
I recently switched up my morning routine to incorporate Pilates. I settled on Pilates as my method of working out because I find the gym rather intense and yoga a bit too light.
Pilates was the middle ground. I thought it would be easy but whew ! I mean it's not hard but it's also not as easy as I expected. I do my Pilates from YouTube. Cassey is a great instructor should you want to try Pilates. The sessions can be anything from 4 minutes to an hour.
4. Cleanse face as a cup of green tea brews.
The expected next step after a workout is to take a shower. I like to give my body sometime to rest before doing so. I cleanse & moisturize my face as I brew a hot cup of green tea.
Green tea is to me what coffee is to people. A day without a cup of green tea in the morning is a bad day. I'm not joking when I say this. I get moody, disoriented, I'm naturally highly irritable so that doubles.. I'm just a mess.
5. Listen to a podcast as I write my to-do-list
I'm big on podcasts. The gag is, I don't like the story type of podcasts, I prefer the self improvement and wellness ones. I should probably do a post on my faves, yeah? I will.
Basically those podcasts that call you out on your bad behaviors, give guidelines on how to go about life, talk about improving your relationships... etc. I'm a self-improvement junkie so anything that can help me improve myself in any aspect, I'm for it.
Look at how I drifted, lol. So the length of podcasts varies as well because sometimes time is not on my side and other times I have some extra minutes. Whilst doing so, I'm sipping my green tea as I curate my to-do list for the given day.
That's it ! Pretty brief, yeah?
NB - I do Pilates thrice a week so on the days that I don't have Pilates, I add on some minutes of sleep or listen to a lengthy podcast that day.
Do you have a morning routine? If so, share it with me. If not, why not? If you're down I could help you curate one that works for your schedule.