Healthy morning routine

When you have kids and are chronically ill

Creating a healthy morning routine when you have kids and are chronically ill is tricky.  We all know that the best days are the ones that begin with a positive start.  How do we put this into practice though when we have busy lives with children or chronic illness?  The answer is planning and organisation!

“If you win the morning, you win the day”

Tim Ferris

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I am NOT going to tell you that in order to get a great start in the morning you need to get up at half five so that you can be productive before the rest of the world wakes up.  If you are chronically ill and anything like me, mornings are hard, sometimes the hardest part of the day.  If you have children, mornings are busy and finding time for yourself can be challenging.

Fear not though, it is possible to have it all; it just takes a bit of forethought and prioritising.  I will share with you my best healthy morning routine and really hope that it helps you to plan a routine that works for you and that helps your health and well-being.

I will caveat this with saying that I am aware that everybody has different responsibilities and work commitments so the amount of time taken in your routine and your order of this routine will vary for you.

So what is the point in creating a healthy morning routine when you have kids and are chronically ill?

Surely you just get up and go with the flow of the morning right?  Wrong, there is plenty of scientific evidence to support that a good morning routine will benefit you greatly.

Developing healthy habits

Putting a routine into your morning will allow you explore what things help you the most in your day.  Things that will enhance your wellbeing. It will teach you how best to incorporate these into your day, through experience and will develop these healthy habits so they become second nature, instead of a task.

“Your best life begins each morning”

Joel Osteen

Lowering stress

When your morning has more structure, you will feel less stressed for sure, it goes hand in hand.  When you structure your morning and create a routine the usual stresses vanish or at least lessen.  Rushing out of bed late, not having time for breakfast, running around after your kids!  Sound familiar?  Add to that chronic pain and lack of sleep.  Sound scary?  It should, it certainly isn’t pleasant.

When you get into the swing of your routine you will also feel safe in the knowledge that you are doing something great to benefit your health.  This in turn will help your stress levels.  After all, stress in much higher when you know you should be looking after yourself but you don’t.  This will give you a positive mind-set to go about your day.

Increasing your productivity

When you give yourself more time in the morning for YOU, you will feel less stressed because of it and your productivity will improve.  Everything will feel a little easier and you will be amazed how much more productive you are throughout your day.

Feeling in control

Feeling in control is such a positive aspect of your wellbeing. Now I am not saying that you need to be regimented in everything that you do all day every day, far from it, there is real joy to be had from being spontaneous and living a life more free.  I am talking about taking control of your health, physically and mentally.  Making more time to positively benefit your well-being and taking more time to benefit your health and happiness will give you a feeling of being in control and will therefore positively enhance your life.

Now what things should you put into your healthy morning routine?

This greatly depends on what works for you.  Do you like to meditate or would you like to learn?  Do you know you should move more or do you already have a great exercise routine?  If you do you may want to skip this in your routine.

I will share my routine with you and you can tweak it to your liking.  Just make sure that you fill your time with things that you know will benefit you and feed your soul.

“I love the smell of possibility in the morning”

Anonymous

Wake up slowly

Waking up slowly is a pleasure that I have found to be essential to my day.  With inflammatory arthritis (and I’m sure many other chronic conditions) mornings are tough.  Giving yourself the pleasure of not rushing out of bed is a gift.  For me, this involves setting a gentle alarm for 15 minutes before I want to get up, turning my electric blanket on (it is winter here in the UK) and using that time to wake up slowly.  I do a kind of body scan, where I check in with every part of my body to see how I feel that day.  It helps me to wake up calmly, and allows me to focus on my body.  I start at my feet and work up to my head, acknowledging everything I feel along the way.

This is the perfect way to wake up in my opinion, especially if mornings are difficult.

Meditate

This leads me to the next thing I do, meditate.  I do not feel that I need to explain the advantages of meditation, we all know them.  After I wake up slowly, I meditate for 10-15 minutes.  This really settles my mind and creates a peaceful space in an otherwise crazy time.  I have a busy life with work, running a home and two school aged children, so keeping my mind calm and not letting it run away with the busyness of everything is very important.

My husband and I have come up with a great way to fit meditation in every morning.  We are both busy and decided that leaving our room to go and meditate isn’t the best option for us.  As soon as we leave our room we leave the calmness that it gives and we walk into a more chaotic state as we think through our day to come, the work there is to do, the washing I have to put in etc.  Staying in our sleepy room with the feeling of slumber leaving us slowly is a feeling that keeps us calm for longer so why not use it.

So, we get out of bed and sit straight down to meditate.  At the end of our bed we have two little meditation cushions, we pull these out and sit down to meditate.  There is something wonderful in doing this at that time, in that calm space, in a sleepy state, together.  The rest of the house is still asleep, it’s our time, it’s my time, and it’s peaceful.  It’s a lovely way to start the day for sure.

Stretch

Moving my body is important beyond measure, I have to move or I get stiff and weak.  Having said that, over doing it is a no go too.  Anyone with inflammatory arthritis will know that if you over do it, you will pay, and who knows for how long.  For me though, staying still is not an option for me physically or psychologically.  So after I meditate I stretch, this looks different every day, depending on how I am, but most of the time it consists of either some yoga or some kind of dynamic stretch routine I have devised, made up of all of my favourite dynamic stretches that I know help me stay mobile.

Self- love and gratitude work

After this I usually have half an hour before my girls wake up, my husband goes straight to work after his meditation, so I’m free to ponder my thoughts alone for a while.  I like to do this with a hot cup of caffeine free green tea and my journals.  After wandering downstairs I settle myself down with my tea and my journals and I write.  I only write small amounts, at this time of day my hands are not at their best, so writing too much creates pain, so I’m careful.  Usually it is my gratitude journal that I start with and sometimes I write in another one if I am worried about something in particular, I find it helps immensely to put it all on paper.  It clears my head so I can go about my day with a clearer mind.  I finish with some self-love affirmations.  Try it, it really does help.

“One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day”

Dalai Lama

Getting ready for your day

After my journal work it’s time for getting myself ready for the day and my girls ready for school.  I like to spend time with my girls in the morning, as with most parents’ mornings, there isn’t much time so you have to snatch it where you can.  You should already be on your way to being in a great mood, due to your morning routine so far so it shouldn’t be difficult.  I use breakfast time to sit with my girls to chat, it is fleeting but it’s lovely.

I also find that a calmer mum equals a calmer morning atmosphere; this means that both girls go to school happy, none of us are stressed or flustered.

Another way to help with this process is to prepare everything you can the night before.  I like to get out the uniforms and prepare their lunches.  Top tip if you have girls with long hair, brush smooth and plait the hair into one big plait the night before, this will sort out any hair tangle problems in the morning.

Walk

After dropping them to school I like to walk.  It is important for me to move my body and this is the perfect time for me because I have the time before I work and I’m by myself, added bonus for some more me time.  Walking is so good for your health, from strengthening your body to lightening your mood and I have a post all about that here.

I either use that time to think or to read, I know it may sound strange, but I love to read while I’m walking.

Read

Reading is one of my absolute favourite things to do and I read a lot. There are lots of reasons to read; to inspire you, to help you, to educate you.  For me it is all of these things but I also like to read novels, for me the benefit of this is to transport me somewhere else for a short time which is relaxing to the mind  A lot of people believe that they do not have the time to read.  I think that you need to dedicate time every day, make it a part of your routine, get into the habit.  You won’t regret it.  If you cannot read quickly or you get frustrated by reading maybe try audible, you will still get all of the advantages but someone will read to you instead.

Creating a routine for your morning is all about giving yourself all the ammunition you need for creating a better day and a better version of yourself.

I hope that me sharing my routine has inspired you to create one for yourself.  Have fun with it, try different things and make it work for you.

I really hope that it helps.

Wishing you health and happiness as always

Laura x