How full time employed mom got her morning routine she loves - Part I

Starting your day in a hurry is not the best way to start the day. It sets the tempo to the whole day. I am full time employed mom of two kids and preparing kids and myself in the morning on time was often stressful for me and I hated that. I wanted to change it for me and for kids and reading about the benefits of morning routine made me think, that this could be an answer. If I could just wake up a little earlier ... That was the challenge.

It is three weeks in to my morning routine now and I love it. I wake up every morning looking forward to this special time that is just mine.

I am calmer, more focused, positive and content now. I am better organized and manage to do more of what really matters to me. Morning routine just got a very huge new fan. 

How I did it? Three things were crucial for success:

1. Find a way that will work for you to start the day earlier

I made a little trick here, because I was not a morning person. This is why I was putting this off for very long time. I couldn't imagine myself waking up before 6:30 voluntarily. I thought for sure I will be a wrack the whole day if I do. This is why I planned this for a few months. Seriously. I was waiting for the day, when we move a clock one hour forward to winter time. With moving the clock one hour forward, I just had to keep waking up at the same hour as before and that was the trick that worked for me.

2. Get family on board

To make sure, that this hour is really mine, I have told my children and my husband how important it is to me to have some time for things I love. If children wake up before 7 am, which is rarely, we agreed, that they must dress themselves first (for smaller child I prepare everything in advance), wash their teeth and then they may watch cartoons. 

3. Adjust evening routine

For morning routine to work I had to change the evening routine too if I didn't want to exhaust myself. I know I need little less then 8 hours of sleep. This is how I am. Therefore I started going to bed earlier. Few days in to my new routine I spontaneously added meditation before going to sleep. These meditations impacted me in a way I didn't plan. I fall to sleep almost instantly after the meditation, I sleep better and I wake up without the alarm clock, completely by myself, fully rested around 5:20. It depends on a day and activities we have, but on average, this is 1 extra hour every morning that is MINE, mine alone and on average I sleep less then before but feel better.

Now, that I have all this extra time, what do I do with it you might ask? I wanted this time to be well spent, so I prepared myself a plan, so I do not have to think too much in the morning.

Next week I will share my morning routine with you. We will go dipper in how even full time employed moms can easily create morning routine they will love and will have no problem to stick to it.

What is a failure? Should we fear it?

I would like to share with you something that just happened to me. I really thought an opportunity I got a month ago is the first step toward sharing my passion and connecting with likeminded. I was sooo happy; finally I gathered courage to proactively reach out and made my first step toward my dream.

Do you know the saying: If it looks too good, it probably is ... Well in this case they were right. I felt pretty stupid opening my heart really wide, investing my time and energy. I started to question everything and the feeling I am stuck, together with apathy and depression came crawling back again.

After some dwelling on it for a while, feeling really disappointed, something in me said STOP. Yes, it happened, it was not fair, but if I learn something from it for the next time, it was not a failure. Learn the lesson and get it over with. Go forward.

I really like the quote from Thomas A. Edison that embodies this so well:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

And so did I. I just found the one way that won't work. I just need to try something else.

Realizing that failure is part of success and that all successful people failed at some point in their life took some drama from what happened to me. The difference that made these successful people successful was in their reaction to the failure. They took the failure as a lesson, not a failure, and just proceeded on pursuing their dream. They believed it can be done one way or another.

“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” - Henry Ford

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill

I don't think any more I failed, because I gained something from this too. I shouldn't give up; I should not be afraid trying new directions. I should not be afraid of failing again.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” - Paulo Coelho

I must continue trying new paths, new ideas. I should keep reaching out to likeminded. Yes I might fail again but failing is just part of the journey.

If I don't do anything, I can expect nothing.

If you feel down as I did, know, it is all in a perspective you choose. What you believe will become the truth for you. Agree?