5 Morning Rituals to Kickstart Your Day

Ever feel like you’re a walking example of the saying “Did you wake up on the wrong side of bed?”

How we start our morning can have a tremendous impact on our entire day. Stumbling out of bed and rushing through your morning routine will likely leave you feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and slightly depleted by the time you get into work, school or tackle the first task of the day.

But that awful morning chaos doesn’t have to be.

It’s actually possible to learn how to love your mornings, and look forward to getting up. I’m an example of it! I often look forward to waking up when I go to bed at night. I even get up early on my days off, just to make my morning last a little bit longer (totally nuts, right?). I definitely wasn’t always a “morning person”, so I know it’s possible to train yourself to like it.

Try these 5 morning rituals to kickstart your day and see how it effects you, changes your mood, and brightens your day.

5 Morning Rituals to Kickstart Your Day

Get up early

I know what you’re thinking – Get up early!? Nah-uh! But if you give it a chance you might find you actually love it.

Setting your alarm as little as half an hour earlier than normal prevents you from having to rush through your morning from the second you plant your feet on the floor. The extra time you get in the morning can instead be spent kickstarting your day right. By, for example, eating a long and relaxed breakfast, or doing one of the small rituals mentioned in this post.

Drink a cup of hot water with lemon

Drinking hot water with lemon first thing in the morning boosts the immune system, cleanses the body, balances pH levels (although acidic, lemons become alkaline in our bodies), and aids in digestion, among other benefits. It should be consumed on an empty stomach, i.e. first thing in the morning.

Aside from the aforementioned benefits, I’ve also found that I’m less inclined to go for a cup of coffee after I’ve had my hot water with lemon, the lemon water in itself gives me a little energy boost. So I often feel like a morning cup of coffee isn’t necessary.

Note: Make sure you’re using organic lemons, you don’t want the pesticides sprayed on non-organic lemons going into your body.

Have a green smoothie

A great way to get a ton of nutrient and antioxidant rich greens into your body and get your metabolism going is to have a green smoothie in the morning. Green smoothies can be endlessly varied and tweaked to tickle your tastebuds.

Start by making your green base, adding green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, celery, herbs etc. Then add whatever fruit you prefer to give it some sweetness, for example mango or banana. Fresh squeezed lemon also gives a nice fresh flavour to it.

My go-to combination is a mix of spinach, romaine, mint, celery, banana, apple and lemon.

5 minute meditation

It might seem like you have no time to spare in the morning, but five minutes is literally nothing. And there’s few better ways to spend five minutes than giving yourself that time to just be.

Find a comfortable or cosy place to sit (I usually grab a blanket and sit in the sofa), set your timer for 5 minutes, close your eyes and just focus on the sensations going on in and on your body, the noises around you, and let whatever thoughts you’ve got going on in your mind just be, don’t pay them any attention.

You’ll notice that those five minutes pass faster than you think (and you might even find you want to sit for longer).

Plan your day

If you apply the first kickstarting suggestion here  and get up earlier in the morning, you’ll have the opportunity to plan your day. This will help you avoid feeling overwhelmed or stressed by your pending tasks and appointments throughout the day.

A simple check-in to see what’s on the agenda for the day can help you get your thoughts straight and prepare you for the day ahead, instead of having a meeting or task creep up on you during the day, rendering you overwhelmed or stressed.