PARENTING :: Morning Rhythms + Self Care

I love Love LOVED sharing my morning rhythms with you guys last year (find my Instagram story highlight here!). And I think I LOVED even more how many of you have since downloaded and used the printable! And I’m even more excited to talk all things self care during this week’s #simplifyyourlife challenge!

Disclaimer!!! Before we jump into the chat of all things morning rhythm success + self care…

This is a rhythm (not routine) of how I try to run my mornings. Key word TRY. Things happen. Life happens. Husbands happen. Kids happen. So remind yourself this when going about your day. Give yourself GRACE + SPACE to achieve a successful morning. And don’t knock yourself down if you don’t put on make up, or do laundry, for the fourth day in a row!

Why have morning rhythms?

I love building structure and rhythm into my life to simplify it. And I love even more to take breaks from it when life gets crazy. Keeping up with my rhythms regularly is what allows me to give myself so much grace when life takes hold, and my to do list gets put on the back burner.

Less overwhelm. Less stress. Hence, self care.

Major perk of this all is, my house is very rarely falling apart. Because even if I take a day (Or two. Or THREE.) to slack, all the previous days of keeping up with the maintenance of my home means we stay afloat. And I’m not super overwhelmed when I do finally decide to return to my rhythms.

Let’s create your rhythms list!

Did you know you are 42% more likely to succeed at your goals if you WRITE THEM DOWN? That goes for the small successes of every day life as well. Taking care of our home. Taking care of ourselves. If we go in with a solid plan, we are that much more likely to succeed. So let’s get started!

1. Establish your morning rhythms goals

Imagine your perfect morning. The home is all reset. All of your daily to do’s are done. And you had a moment to take care of yourself (spiritually, hygienically, physically). What does that look like? Write it down!

I love when I get a minute to myself before the family wakes up. Coffee in the dark, party of one. Does it always happen? Nope! But I feel better when it does. Our kids always need to eat as soon as they wake up. And after breakfast the littles usually run off to play. So I seize the opportunity to head into our room, apply a little makeup and brush my teeth. I can’t forget my main *keep the home afloat* goal: a load of laundry a day.

2. Put order your morning rhythms

Now let’s think about the order you want your morning rhythms to happen. Mine looks a little like this.

• Drink coffee
• Devotional time
• Yoga time
• Feed the mouths
• Empty the dishwasher
• Clean up the kitchen
• Make the beds
• Get ready for the day
• Reset the bathroom
• Throw in some laundry

So I set my morning rhythms list up to not only follow the timeline of my family’s needs, but also the natural physical footprint I take within my home. Because our bedrooms are on the opposite side of the house as our kitchen, I’m not going to make my bed while I feed them breakfast. It makes the most sense to tackle the dishwasher and tidy the kitchen.

And don’t worry, if making this list seems overwhelming, I got you! Here’s my morning rhythms free printable for you to grab right now! This is the very list of rhythms I use each morning in our home.

Chances are, we already do a lot of these things every day. When we define the tasks which make us feel accomplished on the average day, and set intention to that list, we set ourselves up for reachable success!

We feel good when we take care of ourselves.

We feel good when we take care of our homes.

And we feel GOOD when we accomplish our goals.

THIS IS SELF CARE.

So let’s give ourselves a little rest from the crazy commercialization self care has become. Let’s set down the bath bombs and bottles of wine (if just for a moment). Let’s focus on intentional mornings. With room for life to fit in.

xo

Amy

And I super suggest you head here to download my printables for kiddos. Building their morning + evening independence will totally help you achieve your own rhythm goals that much more!