The Power I’ve Found In A Single, Feel Good Morning Ritual

As a new mother, there is nothing more important to me than the intimate moments with myself. I have always been an advocate for self-care, alone time, and self-preservation; I feel so much more strongly about all of these things now, having to share so much of myself with a growing baby.

I have officially gone back to work full-time and finding the balance of work-life and home life can be challenging, primarily since I work remotely. Knowing that so much of my time is divided between so many important people and things in my life, having those peaceful pockets throughout the day to be fully present with myself is critical.

Creating a daily ritual for myself before I begin my motherly and work duties has had an incredible impact on me mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. If you’re anything like me, you struggle to begin the day. Getting out of bed feels like the worse thing you could do.

Even well before I became a mother, forming a habitual routine in the morning felt like therapy for me. It felt like a prize knowing that in the morning, when I awoke, that one thing or those many things that I love so much I had the pleasure of doing.

You often read or hear people say that the more active you are in the morning, the greater your chances are to have a productive day. People have convinced us that the perfect morning ritual means rising at 5:00 am, sitting in meditation, going to the gym, coming home to read a book, having a light breakfast, and then finally beginning the workday.

While all of that sounds good, can we be honest and admit, even when we want to stay on track and have a full day before 9 am, it doesn’t always work this way. Mornings are tough, life gets in the way. For those of us who are parents, sometimes our mornings are off to a late start because the baby kept us up all night and now we lack the motivation to do anything before 9 am. Our days aren’t always perfectly aligned and it’s only when I understood this that I could make peace with the reality that my mornings are simply what I make of them.

There is a worldly obsession with overcommitment for the sake of feeling accomplished. I recall reading in a book once “We’re happier when we don’t have too much free time.” While this was my reality years ago, I do not subscribe to this any longer. I owe it to myself to do as little as possible to feel mentally, spiritually, and emotionally prepared to tackle my day. I don’t want to constantly be busy before beginning a full day or being busy. I don’t want to overcrowd my mind without ever taking the time to decompress after a long night’s rest and decide on how I really feel. I cannot achieve this level of balance or peace if my mind is cluttered and I haven’t had a single moment to just be.

The one thing in the morning that is consistent Monday-Friday is, I take the time to make myself a cup of coffee and enjoy a full cup in peace without a single interruption. I owe this time to myself and I value the space that I create to be one with me, my thoughts, and one of the many guilty pleasures I love so deeply, coffee!

In conclusion, your day is what you make it. Having a full day before 9 am doesn’t guarantee that someone or something won’t piss you off at 9:02. Sometimes it pays to just find a single pocket in your day to sit in gratitude, give thanks and honor the space between what your day is and what you have the power to cultivate. My downtime at the start of my day is when I feel the most joy, it is when I am most at peace. It is during my single, feel-good morning ritual that I found the greatest appreciation for doing what works for me. I have the power to control my day not by doing but simply just by being.