There are no rules about what time of the day you need to practice self-care, but it is often great to include in your morning routine. Here are some different ways to practice self-care in the morning.
Quiet Time with Morning Pages
Try doing morning pages in the morning when your day begins. Morning pages are a style of journaling where you don’t think about what to write, similar to a stream of consciousness. You instead want to write what is on your mind and get it out of the way before you do anything else in the morning.
Morning pages provide quite a few benefits for you. First, you are doing something good for yourself first thing in the morning, which sets you up for the day with self-care. It will also help you get any worrying thoughts out of your mind in the morning before you get to work, do your workout, or focus on other responsibilities.
Move Your Body in a Gentle Way
This isn’t when you want to do a strenuous workout unless that is something you genuinely enjoy. Instead, focus on a gentle form of movement that will relax and prepare you for your day.
It looks different for everyone, but for you, this might mean a simple morning stretch routine, yoga or Pilates, a walk on your treadmill or walking your dog, or just 5 minutes of moving your body in whichever way you find the most relaxing and enjoyable.
Take Care of Your Physical Health
The morning is the perfect time to focus on your physical health and get your day started right. This includes drinking water to help rehydrate your body after sleep and getting something healthy into your body as your first meal of the day.
Start your day with water, as you have spent all night not getting any hydration. You can choose to put lemon in it, but it’s not necessary to be healthy. You can then choose to have your coffee, protein shake, morning smoothie, or a healthy breakfast.
Get Outside as the Sun Comes Up
Try to get outside and soak up some sunshine right as the sun sets or when it begins to feel warm. Soak in that vitamin D, enjoy the fresh morning air, and have a little quiet time outside. No matter where you live, you can benefit from this, whether on your backyard patio, walking your dog early in the morning, or standing on your apartment balcony.