Morning Routine Reality: Why Perfect Mornings Don't Exist
It’s been a few weeks of ups and downs, as I had a medical procedure for my chronic pelvic pain. I’ve had some lower symptom, higher energy days and some higher symptom, lower energy days. This time has given me some time to reflect and bring things back to basics. So, I wanted to write about something more personal today, morning routines. We all have one, whether yours starts at 5am or 10am it’s valid, no matter how it looks.
Our fascination with morning routines and why they don’t work for everyone
When I was a teenager YouTube was a big thing. I remember watching people like Zoella, Tanya Burr, and Britney Saunders. A lot of the YouTubers at the time would share their very aesthetic, and often extensive morning routines. Even today with short form content on TikTok and Instagram, we’re still seeing creators share their morning routines. Sometimes these aesthetic and extensive morning routines can feel aspirational, other times, the complete opposite. For most people, whether you have kids, work full-time, or have an illness, these extensive morning routines may be completely unrealistic. But, even if we know this, we’re still fascinated by how others start their day.
It’s okay to have a completely unaesthetic and simple morning routine, or to have an adaptive morning routine with ideal and typical versions. So, as I’m all about keeping things authentic, I thought I’d tell you about my ideal morning routine and how it usually goes.
My ideal morning routine
On a weekday, ideally, I’d wake up at around 6am, take my medication, pop in my contacts, and have a snack, a coffee and some electrolytes (as I have POTS) before heading to the gym. I’d do a strength workout, maybe some cardio if I feel up to it, and then use the massage chair for a bit before heading home. I’d then make myself an nice warm bowl of porridge with banana, mixed berries and peanut butter, and a cup of green tea and have a relaxing breakfast, before getting ready for the day. I’d get dressed for the day, pop on a bit of makeup and head to my home office and start my work for the day.
In reality, how I feel each morning varies due to my chronic illnesses, so this doesn’t always happen. So, instead I have an adaptive morning routine.
What usually happens instead: my adaptive morning routine
Most days, I actually wake up sometime between 8am and 10am, as I find I struggle to wake up most mornings now. This has been tough to get used to as I used to wake up at 5am every morning. I take my medication, and depending how I feel, I decide my next step. If I wake up feeling relatively well, I pop in my contacts, have my pre-workout snack, coffee and electrolytes and head to the gym. If I wake up with higher symptoms, I’ll skip the gym, put on my glasses and go straight to breakfast. On a good day, this means porridge, on a higher nausea day, this will likely be some toast with Vegemite and cheese, a banana and a cup of green tea.
If I’ve been to the gym, sometimes I change into other clothes and put some makeup on, on others I stay in my activewear, and remain barefaced. If I haven’t been, I may change into comfy clothes, on others I stay in my PJs. On a good day I head to my office and start my work. On a bad day, I typically work from the lounge, or if it’s really bad, I take a rest.
So, moral of the story, you can still thrive without a “perfect” morning routine. When you have a chronic illness, chronic fatigue or pain, it’s more important to build sustainable morning habits that are flexible for your fluctuating symptoms, than to have a “perfect” morning routine.
If this resonated with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts. How does your morning typically go? DM me over on Instagram or comment below.
🩷Emma