For me, a morning routine is so important, and here's why......

As it's #mentalhealthawarenessweek I thought I'd share this with you all.  I've suffered from depression and anxiety for a long time but have always kept it to myself and just put on an act that everything is fine.  Having been in sales and marketing for most of my working life I have always had to be a 'people person' and always had to be cheerful and talkative, but on occasions this was the last thing that I really wanted to be doing.  On some days I didn't even want to leave the house, let alone speak with anyone, so I did find life a struggle.  Things started getting worse in the last year and my 'bad days' were getting more frequent, I finally managed to find the strength to open up about my feelings to my partner and then finally made an appointment with the doctors, and I now feel that I am beginning to overcome this illness.

One of the things that I feel is helping me is my morning routine, I'd read quite a few self-help books and one that really stuck with me was The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.  I don't follow everything that is discussed in this book but I have implemented certain parts of it into my morning routine, I've always been a morning person and like to get up early but getting up early meant just sitting on the sofa watching Good Morning Britain with a cup of coffee, don't get me wrong I still like to watch Piers Morgan grill politicians and ask them questions that they struggle to answer but I now add a bit more purpose to my mornings.  My new routine now looks like this:

Wake Up

I've set my alarm for 6:15 every morning and I've now moved my alarm to the other side of my room as you are less likely to hit that snooze button if you have to get out of bed to turn it off.

Drink Water

You do lose a lot of water during the night so I always have a glass of water first thing once I get downstairs.

Stretches

I spend about 5 minutes doing a few stretches, nothing to strenuous but I do like to have a nice stretch of my back and legs in the morning.

Silence

This has probably been the hardest thing for me to do as I always have so many thoughts going around in my head, but I try and spend 5 minutes each morning just concentrating on my breathing and trying to clear everything from my head.  If something comes into my head I acknowledge it and then get rid of it.  This does take a bit of practise, I sometimes just focus on a shape if I have too many thoughts come into my head. 

Exercise

This is key, 30 minutes exercise every single morning, get my heart rate up and this really does set me for the day.  Joe Wicks has helped massively during the lockdown and I have been doing his PE with Joe in the mornings, these are great as they are available for free on YouTube and only last 30 minutes so they are ideal.  By doing exercise in the morning it gives me more energy for the whole day, it makes me feel happy for the whole day and by putting all these things together I get a lot more work done and I stay focused all day.

I'm sure I could do even more to improve my morning routine but doing these simple things everyday has improved me as a person and improved my quality of life, I do feel happier, healthier and I am so much more productive.

I'd love to hear what your morning routines are, do they work for you as well?