HOW TO CREATE A MORNING ROUTINE WHEN YOU ARE A MOTHER

Morning routine.

What’s that again?

Is that where we drag ourselves out of bed via the toddler alarm clock at 6ish…stumble to the coffee machine…make them breakfast, get them dressed, make school lunches, yell a lot about shoes and get in the car at some point, before or after the school bell has gone? Then we remember that haven’t brushed their teeth or hair and feel like a failure?

Or the one on the weekend where we pray we can sleep in, but that toddler alarm goes off even earlier and we find ourselves sitting watching morning cartoons. That is until it’s time for one of the kids ungodly hour basketball/football/soccer games? And then we may or may not turn up to that game wearing mismatched shoes?

I used to wonder how people did that chirpy, morning perfect thing where they’d exercised, taken the dogs for walks, had their own breakfast and even looked presentable.

I imagined all that time I had, pre-kids, where I could have meditated, done a yoga class before work or set up an entire business from home. I somehow missed that trend and it actually looked sort of like the first routine above.  Except that an actual alarm went off and I raced to get myself dressed, looked for my own missing shoes and got to work before/after start-time.

So I thought maybe it was just me?  Then I thought, what if I got up earlier! So I’d set my alarm for some hour of darkness and then I’d write or meditate but most mornings the kids just got up a little earlier too and the routine dragged on mostly the same.

I didn’t really believe that I could have the life I wanted. The one where I did yoga and meditated and wrote about things that were important to me. I thought I’d missed the boat. I had a pattern in my life where I felt I’d either just missed out or it was going to happen in the future.

In the end it truly came down to prioritising myself and feeling worthy.

Now my morning routine looks a little like this: 

• Get up at some time where there is a toddler alarm. It’s later during these dark, cold winter mornings.
• Make coffee.
• Meditate. Yes every morning. I sit on my couch for twenty minutes as any one of my three kids wanders in and out and I just focus on my breath and sit. Sometimes they curl up on my lap, a lot of the time they try to talk to me and ask me to do things for them but I just sit and wait for my meditation bell to go off.
• I then get up and either do some yoga or go for a shower, depending on the day. I tell the kids to get dressed if they haven’t already (even my three year old gets himself dressed) and then I get myself ready and have my own breakfast and make the kids breaky if they haven’t made their own.
• Then I turn the music on and make lunches and they get their bags ready, teeth brushed, hair done, shoes on etc…. and we get out of there.

Things that have helped me maintain this routine for over a year: 

• Encouraging my kids to be more independent
• Having a regular meditation practice (it’s now a habit and I HATE to miss it)
• Not having a baby – it is harder when they are younger but you can meditate when you breastfeed or have your cup of tea
• Prioritising me and what makes me feel good

I know that you have time to do what you want to do first thing in the morning …. you just need to work out what it is and start doing it. Also please remember that it doesn’t always have to look or be perfect! This morning we woke up at 8am (oops) and I got five minutes of meditating in before I had my 30 second shower and made lunches. It’s showing up that counts. Its the consistency and its an act of self-love. Remember that.

Life works way better if you are flowing with it’s tide  instead of against it.

xx