Early morning routine ideas can be the cherry on top when we want to steer away from drinking, or simply live a more wholesome life in alignment with our temptations.
When we want to transform into a new version of ourselves, our routines become vital. Our routines are what grounds us, what propels us, and what keep us motivated.
Those beautiful mornings when you wake up rested, full, and take that deep breath of relief sipping your coffee. Those are the mornings we live for!
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When I realized I needed to stop drinking and recenter my life, I went to a month long yoga school in Costa Rica. Our morning routine was dialed to the minute! This was critical to our shift into the transformation we all were looking for.
These early morning routine ideas are for women who want to live more naturally, grounded, whole, and in alignment.
This post is all about early morning routine ideas.
19 BEST Early Morning Routine Ideas
Early Morning Routine Schedule
Consistency is key here. It will get easier as time goes on. They say it goes in three parts, the hard part, the messy part, the good part.
Your early morning routine schedule is vital! It sets you up for the rest of your day. How you start your day is how you will live it. For example, starting the day scrolling on your phone will immediately shrink your attention span, making it 1000x more challenging to focus throughout the day.
Does that sound good? I don't think so. Additionally, waking up from a night of drinking is equally as dangerous and does not set your day up for success. You might know the feeling...
Get our perfect morning routine checklist (plus a morning journal edit). It is SO helpful to waking up early and getting into a rhythm. I swear by this!!
BEST Morning Routine Ideas
For your early morning routine schedule you can choose one, two, three, or a mix and match of the ideas below to formulate the morning that works best for you!
1. Get up at 5AM
It sounds daunting, but trust me it will change your life! Rising before the sun will grant you a sense of control over your life. If you are trying to drink less and shift into a new way of living, this will take back your control.
A great support book is The 5AM Club, he will show you how to do it and why it is so beneficial!
When I started doing this it was challenging, but now it is the best part of my day. This report shows that 50% of self-made millionaires wake up before 6AM...
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2. Pray or meditate for a given time
Some people call this their "morning appointment" where they will spend 10-15 minutes in meditation or prayer before getting their day started. Starting your day out with your mind right will sky rocket you throughout your day.
The results are seen over time, so if you choose to do this be consistent! To make it more fun, you can add in a meditation cushion, or some candles!
3. Read a passage of motivational/self-help book
Sometimes meditation isn't for everyone, and I totally get it. So, you can start your day out reading. Even if it just a page or a paragraph, feed your mind something useful, helpful, and fulfilling. Here are some book recommendations that I love:
4. Have a cup of coffee, coffee is brain food
In moderation, coffee is brain food and packed with nutrients. Coffee has antioxidants, and according to studies caffeine actually has anti-cancer properties, neurodegenerative disease protection, and lowers oxidative stress.
5. A cup of cacao
For those who don't react well to coffee, or simply do not like it, cacao is a great alternative! Cacao also has stimulating effects that can help you wake up, move your brain into day-mode and so much more!
For those also looking to drink less at parties, cacao is a great drinking alternative since it still stimulates and activates your mind and body, but without the alcohol!
6. Herbal teas
I can't say enough amazing things about herbal tea. I don't just mean herbal teas that you can get at any grocery store, but herbal tea as medicine. For example, women can use certain herbal teas to help with certain stages of their cycle. You can make herbal teas that help your brain focus. I mean the options are endless!
Here are some examples:
- Nourishing nettle tea
- Heart opening rose petal tea
- Cycle-loving red raspberry leaf tea
- Cleansing burdock root tea
7. Light yoga sequence
Sometimes nothing is better in the morning than going into a down dog and bringing slow movements to the body with your breath. A light yoga sequence can be a simple Sun Salutation repeated 3 times.
That alone can take a quick 10 minutes, yet it connects the breath to the body and focuses the mind. Here is a great Sun Salutation sequence for your early morning routine ideas!
8. Get one task of household chores or work done
An over looked early morning routine idea, truly!! In the mornings, it can be such a good idea to do a low-dopamine task.
Think about it, if you wake up and scroll on your phone that is a high dopamine task which can effect the rest of your dopamine output the rest of the day, which arguably, can lead to drinking more alcohol at the end of the day to keep up with the high level of dopamine needed to feel satisfied...
Starting with low dopamine tasks, like check emails, put the laundry away, clean the counters, etc can set you up for the day.
9. Go for a walk
Another low dopamine task that gets the blood flowing and the mind circulating. Taking a walk in the morning when the sun is rising is great for your brain's output of melatonin which, in turn, helps your circadian rhythm.
10. Get up at the same time everyday
Now, when I started waking up at 5AM, that is all I did for my early morning routine. I just had to accomplish that one goal in order to build up my routine. So, if you need to just start with that - get up at the exact same time.
You have 60 seconds to either get up out of bed, or press snooze. To stay consistent with this one, you must react within 60 seconds of your alarm! A large teaching in The 5AM Club.
11. Journal your gratitudes
Using a journal, write your gratitudes for the day. The key here is everyday they have to be different, choose between 3-5 things and write them down. You don't need to get too in-depth in your writing. This can take you a simple five minutes!
12. Make your intention for the day
Making an intention in the morning can help you stay on track with your goals. If you are trying to stay away from drinking at night, then in the morning make your intention crystal clear!
Either say them to yourself or add your intentions into your journal. These will help you stay on track and avoid drinking, or over-drinking, in the evening.
13. Workout
A challenging one to get started, but arguably the most rewarding! Put this into your early morning routine ideas that will change your life. Get your blood flowing, get your body moving, and you might just feel like a million bucks the rest of the day.
14. Cold shower
Have you seen the buzz with the cold plunge/sauna? Well, you don't need all that to engage in this beneficial practice. All you need is a cold shower.
Try this at home and I'll let the results speak for themselves!
15. Enroll in a course or program
Get yourself into a course or program of something that interests you! It doesn't have to make sense in your career, just something you enjoy learning. Begin to fill your time with learning and expanding your mind instead of drinking.
I love taking courses and programs, and working on them in the early morning hours for 15-30 minutes gets my creative juices flowing. A great alternative to drinking in the evening... Go to sleep earlier so you can wake up and learn something!!
16. Hydrate first
Maybe the simplest early morning routine ideas... Hydrate first and foremost. Wake up and drink a hefty glass of water. Growing up my brother would do thus before his coffee in college and swears by it.
A reason we can get so tired in the daytime is actually due to dehydration. Water flows into the mitochondria (our energy center in our cells) and essentially wakes them up! Not only that, mild dehydration actually affects the mood of young women...
17. Sunlight exposure
Get outside! Right when the sun comes up go stand in it, do your Sun Salutations. This early morning routine idea is one I could get better at. But, when I do it feels too good.
Have you ever gone out fishing, hiking, etc in the early morning and by the afternoon you wonder why you feel so amazing? Sunlight is medicine!
18. A protein packed breakfast
When I have eggs and bacon for breakfast versus cereal... Wow, the difference is palatable. Protein packed breakfast is a great early morning routine idea because then you don't have to think about what you are going to eat.
If you wake up and know exactly what you are going to have, eggs and bacon, and know that it satisfies you all morning you can spend your time and energy reading, working, getting yourself together, etc.
19. Listen to a podcast
Lastly, a great morning routine idea is to listen to a podcast. Not a news podcast, necessarily, but one that is encouraging, motivational, or something you are interested in.
Very similar to reading a book, this you can do while getting ready for work or while working out or taking your morning walk.
You just went through the 19 best early morning routine ideas to live more grounded, aligned, and away from booze. Setting your day up correctly will help you stay away from the booze later in the day and evening.
I hope this helped you and gave you some good ideas that you can implement starting tomorrow!