5 Things I Do Every Morning

Ok, so I should start by saying that this is 100% not a post about my elaborate morning routine. Spoiler alert: I don’t have one. On a typical day, I wake up with just enough time to get ready for work, I rush out the door with my green juice in hand (I’ve got that down at least), and I hustle to work—usually having to put on my mascara in the car because I always manage to run out of time at home, even though I know exactly what time I need to get out of bed in order to not have to rush around.

I have my self-care-shit together in many areas of my life, but not this one. Maybe someday I will become an early riser but…I’m not there quite yet. And that’s ok.

I’ll tell you something really simple that I do manage to do every morning though—and it requires very minimal time and effort. I read the following on a Tiny Devotions Instagram post a few years ago and I loved it. It took me a while to make it a habit, but I do it pretty much every day now.

Ready?

Five Things to Do Before You Get Out of Bed

1. Express gratitude
2. Set your intention for the day
3. Take 5 long, deep breaths in and out
4. Smile for no reason just to flex the muscle
5. Forgive yourself for yesterday’s mistakes

That’s it. Those are the 5 things that I do every morning before I even get out of bed. I express gratitude (often for something that happened the day before or for something coming up that day), I set my intention for the day (I find that one is plenty, it helps me to stay focused), I take 5 long, deep breaths in and out (this should preferably be done throughout the day too), I smile (it lifts my mood immediately, every single time), and then—and this is the big one: I forgive myself for yesterday’s mistakes.

This has been the most powerful one for me. Whether I like it or not, and whether I want to or not, I am usually at least slightly disappointed in something that I did or didn’t do the day before. I’m upset that I ate like crap, that I barely checked anything off my to-do list, that I gossiped too much, or that I didn’t handle a certain situation in the way I would have liked to, and etc.

I consider letting things go a strength of mine, but I place a lot of unnecessary expectations on myself, and these subtle disappointments end up adding up. It’s been a nice practice to acknowledge what I may still be holding onto first thing in the morning…and then let it go. Life’s too short to hold grudges—especially against yourself.

So until I magically morph into a morning person, this little routine is serving me well.