But what if your morning routine isn’t doing those things? Instead of creating a strong foundation in your Root Chakra, you’re creating uncertainty and instability.
What if, instead of making you feel like a ‘Soul Aligned Goddess’, your mornings leave you feeling like an overwhelmed failure?
This is exactly where I found myself a few months ago. I had a pretty well-established morning routine, which was working well for me… until suddenly it wasn’t.
There was only one course of action – I needed a Morning Routine Detox…
My history of troubled mornings
I have NEVER been a morning person. I always struggled to get up – even as a child, my bed was my favourite place!! And as an adult, this left me hating mornings, struggling with tiredness, and always feeling like I’m playing catch up.
I envied those (smug?!) people who jumped out of bed at dawn with a smile on their faces, ready to set themselves up for a fabulous day… while I was pressing snooze (for the ninth time!), skipping breakfast, and doing my makeup in the car!
So, a couple of years ago, I decided I was going to create a better morning routine for myself. I am totally aware that as I work from home, have no kids, and very few demands on my time in the morning, I am in a unique and pretty lucky position. So, why not make the most of it?
I tried lots of things and finally settled on quite an extensive morning routine (again, I know I have time for this and not everyone does, but bear with me!), which to complete before 8.45am (when I like to get down to work) required me to get up at 6.00am! This terrified me. I’m not a morning person… Is this even possible for me??? But I knew I really wanted to give it a go. Approach everything with curiosity and experimentation, right?!
So, I went through the pain of establishing an earlier bedtime and earlier alarm call until when around this time last year – I had it nailed! Bed at 10.00pm (mostly!) and up at 6.00am. And it was pretty easy – I was even enjoying being up at that time. The quiet, the calm serenity. Mornings were great – who knew?!
I absolutely knew that if I stuck to this routine and did all the things I knew were good for me during that time, my days would be more productive, easier, and definitely more in flow.
So, what went wrong?
The Morning Routine Overwhelm…
Part of my morning routine from the beginning has been to read. I love to read. Always have, so this was a lovely, pleasant thing for me to start off my productive day. I was reading books and authors with so much insight and amazing knowledge to impart, I was lapping it up! Marianne Williamson; Gabby Bernstein; Sonia Choquette; Louise Hay; Byron Katie, Anodea Judith, Deepak Chopra – all the classics! I mean, the list goes on!!!
The great (and apparently terrible!) thing about all these books and authors is, they give you clear actions to take. As a result of reading their books and digesting the knowledge, now I needed to take action!
An extra meditation here; a journaling exercise there; some affirmations? Why not? Morning prayers – ok. Even the odd yoga pose!!!
So… where to add all these activities? I know – my morning routine! I already journal, so let’s add these journaling exercises in there. I already meditate, so let’s add a couple of these in there. Visualisation? No problem, Gabby B – I’ll just add that in after my Chakra Balancing!
As I was powering through the books (convinced that if I didn’t do all the associated extra ‘work’ it would all be a giant waste of time!), adding more and more ‘extras’ into my morning routine. I was piling on the pressure:
- Adding pressure on the time I had.
- Adding pressure to do ‘all the things’ perfectly (otherwise nothing would work!).
- Adding pressure to my whole day – because, once again, I was overwhelmed, feeling like a failure for not getting it done and playing catch up all day.
It was like I was serving my morning routine – not the other way around!
So, when the mornings started getting darker and the long run-up to Christmas arrived this year, I let things slide. I had a few health issues to deal with, and lots of markets to do, I even had some freelance project management work on the go and I was starting to struggle to do all the things.
Over Christmas and immediately after I just wasn’t able to get back into it. In my defence I had been pretty ill (Covid and some other lingering health issues) and I just wasn’t able to get up so early in the morning. I stopped doing any part of my routine (I didn’t even exercise for a whole week – unheard of for me!!). I felt sluggish, lazy, and totally demotivated.
So… I took a break. From lots of stuff. Social Media. My morning routine. Going out! I went into ‘hibernation’, and it felt like the right thing to do!
Until a couple of weeks ago, I decided to start slowly and build back up to a morning routine that served me. One that does what it’s supposed to do – set me up to have a fantastic day! I knew that if I could, my motivation, excitement, and general interest in life would return.
My Morning Routine Detox
So, I detoxed!
I went back to basics and looked back to when I had started my morning routine journey in the first place. What was my motivation? What were the activities that lit me up? What activities made me feel better for doing them? Anything that felt like a chore or felt like someone else’s priority had to go.
I’ve started getting up just half an hour earlier and doing the first thing on my newly detoxed list of stuff. This is my non-negotiable. No matter what happens, what time I get up, how motivated I feel – this is the one thing I always do and know always makes me feel good.
Once I did that for a few days, I got up another half hour earlier and added the next thing.
It hasn’t been a straight line, but I have persevered, and I am getting there!
Yes; there have been days (plenty of them!!) where I haven’t made the alarm call. When it was sooooo dark and maybe hadn’t had a great night’s sleep. But, I still did the ‘one non-negotiable thing’. That way, I always start my day with one achievement rather than several failures.
This week, I’m aiming for 7.00am. I’ve added in my last few list items and am ready to take a nice leisurely amble through my lovely morning activities prepped and excited to start work at 9.00am. Ready to face the day as the Goddess I know I am… well, sometimes!!
Going forward…
I will still read the amazing spiritual and self-development books I love (reading is still the mainstay of my morning routine), but instead of treating these wonderful lessons as gospel to be followed to the letter; I read them, enjoy them, assimilate all the knowledge and then think objectively about whether I need to add/change anything in my routine based on what I’ve learnt.
The proviso remains that in order to make it into my routine, anything new has to do more for me than something I already do. This new activity then replaces something in my old routine. This way, I’m not just adding endlessly to my morning routine. It stays relevant, enjoyable, useful and doable.
I have developed quite an extensive morning routine. If you’re interested, this is what it consists of at the moment:
- Get up
- Enjoy a cup of tea in my favourite (huge!) mug, while I read something self-development/inspiring in my garden room so I can make the most of whatever natural light there is!
- 20-minute breathing meditation & chakra visualisation
- Workout
- Shower
- Get to work!
I know this is not for everyone and I am certainly not trying to foist my routine on you, but instead, I urge you to take a look at what you’re currently doing and make sure it is serving you in the most positive way possible.
I intend to conduct a ‘Morning Routine Detox’ every few months to make sure everything still feels good.
Do you have a morning routine? I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a message or let’s connect on social media.
So, there you have it…
My take on a supportive morning routine, how to detox yours if you need to, and how to create stability in your Root Chakra which you can build on for the rest of the day!
If you fancy going a little deeper into the Chakra element of all our products, download our Chakra Health Checkup and find out which of your Chakras could use a little extra support and which of our products can help you do that best – indulge in this unique and mindful way to support your energy from Root to Crown.
