Embrace The Morning

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embrace morningThe morning is quiet as the world hasn’t begun stirring, the perfect time for meditation, writing, exercise, and some much needed YOU time. Although it may seem tough to get into an early-morning routine, you’ll find that the habit will benefit you in so many ways. Here are my tips to EMBRACE the morning and have one filled with less yelling and more coffee.

Start the night before.

A key to morning sanity, and less running around like a chicken with your head cut off, is prepping as much as possible the night before. I like to have all the kiddos lunches packed and ready to go for the next day. I also get our outfits ready. I praise the uniform gods on the daily. The little one is rather opinionated about her fabulous garment of choice so I often have her pick out her sparkly ensemble. When I am really feeling the organization vibe, I pick out my weeks’ worth of outfits and have them all together on hangers in my closet.

Don’t let the kids be your alarm clock.

I very rarely wake up to the impetuous chorus of MOM, MOM, MOM, or toddler halitosis in my face because I wake up AND get out of bed while my precious dictators are still all snug in their beds. I can’t even tell you what a difference this makes for my peace and serenity. Once I am up I usually have time to put away dishes from the night before, prep breakfast and just have time for MYSELF. Time for myself WITHOUT the kids!  

BUT first, COFFEE.

My morning goes… get up, bathroom, COFFEE. I try to pair my coffee with a large glass of warm lemon water. I turn on the coffee maker, and as my lovely machine warms up, I chug the water.

Embrace the beauty of a well made bed.

It takes all of 5 minutes and simply makes me happy. I can’t leave the house without a nicely made bed. The girls are also responsible for making their beds in the morning, however they often need some assistance. The 5-year-old has totally bought into this as she shares my sheet germ phobias; we are still trying to convert the little one to see the profound disgust that is an unmade bed.

Sweat it out.

I love to start my day with a solid sweat sesh. Before we became a family of four I would go to the gym almost every morning before work. Because leaving your children under the age of 5 home alone is frowned upon I have been relegated to get my sweat on in our basement. I don’t even pay for a fancy “workout” subscription. I simply go to Youtube on my smart TV or laptop and search fitness videos, p90x, Pop sugar, insanity, yoga and more. 30 minutes of heart pounding moves and I promise you will be a more patient and calm mom throughout the rest of your day.

Set your intentions.

I have wanted to get into a meditation practice for a while, but I have to admit my brain is too go, go, go in the morning (maybe I need to cut back on the coffee). But I have found that if I take a peaceful couple of minutes to think about my day and set my intentions, it helps my state of mind. This does not have to be anything fancy. I often sit in the silence of a kitchen with my HOT cup of coffee and come up with some small goals for the day.

Mornings can be rough! I hope I am not the only one that threatens to leave the house without my children to get them in the car on time. However, embracing the morning hours can bring you some much needed quality YOU time. 

Are you an early bird? What do you do in the morning?

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nikkim
Nikki has called wonderful Fairfield County her home, her entire life. Growing up on a campus of a private school in Greenwich, CT Nikki swore to her educator parents that she would never be a teacher. Well life has a way of repeating itself and now Nikki and her amazingly supportive husband are happily working at a different independent school in Greenwich. A recovering “type a” perfectionist she is learning to let go of her color coding, alphabetizing ways and embrace the mess. Helping her enjoy life’s everyday messes are her two precocious girls Sofie (11/15/11) and Keira (9/7/13). Nikki loves all things mommy cliché including but not limited to walks on the beach, running, reality TV, organizing closets, wine, chocolate and having her kids help her out in the kitchen.

1 COMMENT

  1. Whenever I can embrace my morning, I reap the many benefits so thank you for reminding us why we should make our morning a priority!

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