How to Create a Morning Routine

I’ve been intentionally working on creating my morning routine for the better part of three years. It started with a handwritten list of wellness goals I wanted to reach towards each day, placed beside my bed. Now I have a morning and evening visual routine framed in my bathroom, among other visual supports. Not necessarily an ending point, but an evolution on this journey with a tool that is too easy to use not to share.

My mornings are crucial to create a foundation of calm and alignment, but they didn’t always used to be this way. I used to struggle to be consistent with my self-care tasks, with remembering to eat breakfast, and I definitely did not get up early enough to exercise. My mornings used to be driven by my anxiety in an effort to get out to door as soon as possible. But now, I have found that creating a flow and a rhythm to my morning helps ease me in to the flow and rhythm of my day. I have found that dedicating time to myself each morning, even if it’s only for a few moments, changes everything.

If you too struggle with anxiety or have other executive functioning challenges that get in the way of completing your daily occupations, you may also benefit from giving yourself a bit more structure to your morning. And using a very pretty visual can help you stay within the flow of your morning because it gives you an outline that you can clearly see. Using a visual takes away the responsibility of your working memory to store and then retrieve that information. When you don’t have to do that work, you are left with more energy to move through your day. You are left with more reserves, more patience, and more ease.

I also want to say that as I was first going through this journey toward creating a more consistent morning routine, I felt a lot of shame around not being able to do this on my own. I may not have always identified that feeling as shame… I may have said I felt frustrated or annoyed or sad that I couldn’t do something that seemed so simple to others. But I let go of that shame and accepted that my brain needs a bit more support to help my body and soul. If you need a little help (or a lotta help) too, I hope you can let go of the shame and accept how wonderful you are. Just as you are.

I could say so much more and I definitely will if you ask, but give these a try! Create your own visual routine or download my own from my resources page to get going on your own morning wellness routine.

Wishing you all joy, peace, and easeful mornings.

Meghan