Reclaim your mornings! It’s time to create a new morning routine that leaves you balanced, focused, and ready to go.

Did you make any resolutions this year? While I don’t like to call them resolutions, I do make goals every new year. They are not an all-or-nothing type of deal as traditional resolutions often are. They are goals with realistic plans on how to achieve them (or at least make progress towards achieving them).

One of my goals this year is to reclaim my mornings by creating a new morning routine. Since having kids (…almost 10 years ago now), my mornings have not been my mornings. Aside from the rare early morning workout, I generally have not set an alarm clock. Rather, the kids have been my alarm clock, signaling that another day was in full swing.

“Make coffee, put away dishes, make breakfast, have a sip of hot coffee, eat, pack lunches, have a sip of lukewarm coffee, look for missing shoe or library book, remind kids to brush their teeth, remind self to brush teeth, have a sip of cold coffee, reheat coffee…etc! (Perhaps you are familiar with this “routine”?)

But here is the thing, it isn’t really that rough anymore. Although my kids didn’t sleep through the night for their first few years, they are now 7 and 9 and fantastic sleepers. They wake up early and happy on most mornings and serve themselves cereal if I am still sleeping!

So why do I, a morning person by nature, still feel frazzled on most mornings? Well, it’s clear to me now that I don’t have enough structured “me time” to get my zen on before starting the day. For so long I prioritized sleeping as long as I could at the expense of having some time to myself. But the time has come to change this.

Hence my new goal: get up earlier and carve out some morning me time. Create a new morning routine that is worth getting up early for and leaves me calm and in control. (In addition, going to bed a little earlier–another habit I have been working on!)

Here is the morning routine I came up with. It may not happen every day, but my goal is to make it happen on most weekdays.

• Have coffee or tea.*
• Figure out the day’s plan.* Consult calendar or planner, check email and messages for anything that needs immediate action. Set goals and sketch out plans for the day.
• Eat a nourishing breakfast. Think FGFP. (Fruit, whole grain, fat, protein). (Bonus points if you add a vegetable!) (Need breakfast ideas? Check out this guide.)
• Exercise. (For me it works best to exercise after the kids go to school, but you may be able to fit this in earlier-the key, of course, is that it gets done!)

*Can often be done together! (I mean a little multi-tasking is ok, right?) (But should ideally be done with mindfulness and while sitting down.)

How would you plan your ideal morning?

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• 7 Key Concepts of Mindful Eating
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