Morning Rituals on working days

I saw somewhere last year that having a morning ritual helps you set a positive tone for the day. I can't remember whether it was a Jay Shetty podcast, or a random instagram post. I immediately looked at how my mornings are like, and I realised that I actually have a morning ritual, even though I was totally unaware of it. But it does not have meditation, affirmations or 5-minute journaling like most influencers show you.

I generally wake up 2-hours before I go to work, whether I leave home at 7am or 2am. (Sometimes I have to leave home at 2am for bridal dressings. Not an ideal time to start the day, but it pays my bills, and I've limited this type of bookings to only one per month).

I don't like rushing out of the house in the morning. I know that some people wake up only half an hour before they leave, so they'll just quickly shower, get dressed and rush out of the house with a coffee cup. It doesn't work that way for me. I prefer a slower morning where I get to set my body's rhythm first.

The Ritual

I keep about 5 alarms, 5 minutes apart, but this is only for "just-in-case". I normally push myself to get up at the 1st alarm itself. I don't check my phone, and I open the curtains to let sunlight pour in if it's not a midnight wakeup time. This instantly wakes me up, and I'm blessed that our bedroom window faces the East, so I see gorgeous sunrise every day. I also open the windows to let fresh air in. Since we moved away from Colombo, the morning air feels super fresh and cool. It feels so nice to do this as soon as I wake up.

Next is the first half of personal grooming, this includes tongue-scraping, brushing my teeth and washing my face with a gentle cleanser to get rid of any skincare residue from last night. Then I move downstairs to the kitchen to make some coffee.

I don't like drinking my coffee really hot, so I keep it on our dining table and go back for the second half of my personal grooming. This is where I shower and come back to the dining table, where I sip my coffee in silence and do my makeup. This is my favourite part of the morning. I don't listen to anything. I prefer the cool natural air in the morning with absolute silence to savour my coffee. While sipping it, I do my 4-step skincare routine (you can see the products I currently use in the picture. If you're curious about the mug, it's from Anthropologie), followed by a simple makeup routine. This takes about 20 minutes in total.

I usually make an overnight oats for the days I have morning work outside home. You can click here for the easy recipe.

Note: If you're from Sri Lanka, I recommend buying Ciao Greek Yogurt for this. I don't find fresh blueberries all the time, so I switch to strawberries (generally from Berry Much or Jagro).

After I eat this, I slip into my outfit, which is generally planned the day before so it saves time in the morning, and then it's time to head out.

So no meditation, no 5-minute journaling or affirmations. I don't find those affective for me, and I don't enjoy doing those either. I think it's best to find a few little analog things (anything that doesn't involve your smart phone or social media) that you truly enjoy doing in the morning.

Let me know, do you have a morning ritual?

See you soon,

Love,

Neth