Hi, friends! Today I'm sharing another post in my Something New series where I try a little something new each month. This month, I tried out a slow morning ritual - find out how it went below!
Why did I start trying slow mornings?
Welp, it probably doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out, but, like many of you, I've been experiencing more anxiety over the past 6 or so months since the start of the pandemic. Some days are total trash and some days are happy. I'm lucky in that my anxiety is pretty mild and I don't experience panic attacks - but there are certainly days where I find it really hard to focus on my work or relax because I'm so distracted by being anxious about the state of the world, my life, my career - [insert anything here].
Enter slow mornings.
I read and watch a lot of “self-help” style content and have always been enamored by the idea of having this super duper morning ritual that sets me up for the rest of the day. The philosophy of taking care of yourself and putting on your own mask before putting someone else's on resonates with my own general life philosophy, so, in an effort to try and calm the EFF down in the midst of a pandemic I decided to give slow mornings a shot 🙂
My pre-slow mornings routine:
6:00-6:30 am wake up
6:30-7:00 feed the cats + caffeinate
7:00am + plop in front of the computer and start working.
Somewhere between 10-12: hit a productivity wall and do a workout to get blood circulation back up to my brain in the hopes of achieving something in the afternoon haha.
My slow morning routine:
6:00-6:30 am wake up
6:30-7:00 feed the cats, tidy up the apartment
7:00-8:00 workout
8:00-8:30 shower, skincare, putting on makeup and generally getting ready for the day
8:30-9:30 caffeinate, journal, meditate, listen to a podcast or read depending on my mood
9:30-10:00 am start my work day
So, did it work?
TL;DR sort of 😝
The slow morning routine I created was long and extensive. Some parts of it worked and other parts of it didn’t. BUT that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work for you! I still love the idea of having a cozy, lovely little morning ritual to set up the day - but maybe an extensive slow morning routine isn’t the best approach for someone like me, and here’s why.
What I've learned about myself over the years is that if I want to get something difficult or daunting done, I have to do it in the morning. I really hit the ground running first thing in the morning and am able to work harder and make much more mentally taxing decisions In the mornings (e.g., making financial investment-related decisions, pulling the trigger on submitting papers for my PhD, sending emails I’ve been putting off - etc.). Any big decision I've ever made or anything scary that I've been putting off always ends up getting done first thing in the morning.
As much as I'd love to have a slow morning to take care of myself for hours at a time, it's not something that is practical when my mental strength is at its highest in the morning. It’s not that I'm not capable of doing things at other times, but anything that requires lots of thought and decision making willpower has to be done first thing. Spending my mornings enjoying the quiet and taking care of myself was wonderful but it isn't a ritual that is a good use of my time. Essentially by spending a huge chunk of my morning hours doing this slow morning routine, I was losing hours where I was most decisive, driven, and productive. For those of you who struggle with getting up in the mornings or are most productive in the afternoons, however, having a slow morning routine might be perfect for you!
All of that being said, I won't be ditching all of my routines just yet. I still enjoyed working out as well as journaling first thing in the morning, so rather than ditching all of the slow morning rituals, I'm going to try out doing a shorter morning ritual instead - and I'll try to post an update soon! 🙂
Have you tried a slow morning routine? I'd love to hear how you've incorporated it into your daily life and what routines you've tried or want to try!
