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My Monday morning routine is important to me, as it’s the foot on which I start my week. As I’ve mentioned before on my blog, my schedule changes pretty regularly for work, and the best I can do is adjust and find the new good things that my schedule allows me to do.
For the next few months, I will be starting work 2.5 hours later than normal, meaning that I get to start my week with a bit of a lazier and relaxing monday morning routine.
While I might occasionally bike in the morning (it depends what happens on Sunday afternoons), I plan to start my morning with some gentle pilates, stretching, and core work (I teach barre later in the day so I get cardio then, but I’ve found that mat pilates is incredibly helpful to me as a runner). Pilates, which is a mind-body exercise, is so good for me physically, but I also find it wonderfully relaxing and grounding.
(this is an old picture- do you see how still my shoulders are here? I’ve worked pretty hard at loosening them up and “dropping them down my back”. It’s made a big difference)
While I get to sleep in just a little more than if I was going into my office at 8 am, I try to only allow about 30 minutes of extra sleep before getting up to eat breakfast, catch up on some blog reading, and watch the news. Then, with the sun rising, I go outside, take some nice, deep breaths of fresh air, and enjoy some tea or coffee. Sure, it’s a little chilly, but it feels wonderfully calm and peaceful as well.
And then, with the sunrising beside me, it’s pilates time before getting ready for my day. That sounds like a pretty great monday morning routine, right?
These are just little things, but they make a big difference in how I start my week!
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s your Monday morning routine? Do you do anything specific to start the week off on a good note?
I love that! I’m…not a morning person, to say the least. I don’t have a particular set time I need to be at work and sometimes I work from home, so my morning rituals (particularly Monday mornings) could use some improvement. Today I was randomly awake right before my alarm went off at 6:45, but I have been known to sleep until 8:45, rush out the door, and work until 7 that night.
I would love to implement better morning rituals. Do you have any tips for getting started? I think tomorrow I will set my alarm for 6:45 again and force myself not to hit snooze.
For a long time I had to put an alarm away from the reach of my arm to force me to get up! Think about some soothing things you can do when you get up! Drink something warm, go through a few stretches while focusing on deep breathing to get your mind-body connection up and running. I try to hurry to get ready so I have some time to watch the today show and read some blogs while eating breakfast. For me, that helps really wake me up and get my mind running. Those are just a few ideas 🙂 Having a set routine would probably be helpful though!
That sounds like a pretty heavenly Monday morning! I tend to take it easier on Mondays as well. It’s usually my rest day. I don’t do anything specific on Monday’s to set the tone for the week but I do like to have all my chores done on Sunday so the house feels clean and organized to start off the week. I feel so frazzled when I still have a to-do list that’s not complete by Monday morning!
I agree with you! I try to get a lot done over the weekend, meal prep on Sundays, etc… so I feel good about heading into the week. I hate feeling behind on life already on Monday mornings!
That sounds like a great way to start off your week! I do not have a Monday morning (or any morning) routine, but that’s one of my goals for February. I think it will help me feel organized and start my days off on the right foot. Now all I need to do is figure out what the routine is haha… I think it might take a little bit of trail and error, but that’s ok 🙂
I think it definitely takes some trial and error, so don’t give up if something doesn’t work! Good luck!!
Sounds like an awesome start to the week. A little chill time in the morning is amazing.
It really is! I felt myself missing it a bit this morning.
[…] 4. I focus on slowing down, as I shared about in talking about my new morning routine. […]