How I Wake Up Happy & Excited Every Single Day.

Following on from this really personal post I wrote here a few months ago now, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you how I truly wake up happy and excited each and every single day. This by the way, is coming from a girl, who suffers greatly with anxiety, so it did not happen overnight. I took a few pieces of advice from these books to form: a new daily practice, a new habit. After all, we are just creatures of habit, we are all capable of evolving and changing, if we want to.

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Do you often wake up grumpy? For no apparent reason? Do you hit the snooze button countless times until you actually question why you even bothered to set an alarm in the first place? Do you skip breakfast? Does your morning routine pass by in a blur and you don’t actually know how you got to work or started your day?

I see a few heads nodding.

This used to be me. I used to live in zombie mode. Autopilot. I’ve always enjoyed whatever job I was in, so I had no real reason to feel grumpy in a morning. I always had 7-8 hours sleep, so no reason really to stay in bed. I just could not lift this invisible weight that would lie upon me most mornings. Only until I began my day in the office, or interacting with family and friends, I would go about my morning in almost a trance like state. Not paying attention to anything really.

Each day would pass by with me saying to myself:

I could have gone to the gym this morning. I could have done that 5k. I could have made a really healthy breakfast. I could have done food prep for the week. I could have mediated. I could have done yoga. and so on. and so on.

I decided I wanted to change how I lived each day, I wanted to make the most of every little bit of it, and stop putting off what I could have done today, until tomorrow.

You can create anything you want in life, you just have to put your mind to it.

This statement really resonates with me. If you give yourself enough self love, truly think about what it is that makes you happy, and focus on what you want in life, then the universe WILL ALWAYS conspire to make your wildest dreams come true. Sounds simple? It is, but not at first. I’d be lying if I found I could easily change overnight. You have to make a commitment to be the best version of yourself.

Bedtime

How we begin each day will set the standard for the rest of the day ahead. One way of helping you wake up ready to attack the day, is ensuring you get a good, peaceful night sleep. When I get into bed I like to write in my gratitude diary, which leaves me feeling happy and content right before I fall asleep. My mind therefore is only filled with positive thoughts, meaning I am more likely to wake up in a good mood. I spritz lavender mist on my pillows and sometimes listen to a sleep meditation as I am drifting off as well. The little things help.

Don’t Hit Snooze

No matter what, make a promise to yourself not to hit snooze. This was actually the hardest obstacle for me to overcome, as I love my sleep so, so much and if anyone knows me, you know how much I love a nap. The only way I got past this was to put my phone at the other side of the room – actually, in the beginning I would put it in an entirely different room to force my ass out of bed. Those extra ten minutes will not make you feel better, you may as well just jump out of your bed and get on with your day.

Always Gratitude

To help you wake up, as soon as you get up out of bed drink a glass of ice cold water and brush your teeth. In these moments remind yourself of what you are grateful for. Practicing gratitude immediately instills a sense of happiness and will motivate you to make the most of your morning.

 

Exercise

I often skip this step, but my god when I do actually do a work out I feel amazing. Every single time I get up for a yoga class or go on a hike, I feel incredible. If you aim to get out of bed by 7am, before 9am you will feel like you have already achieved so much by doing 30-45 minutes of exercise. This is something that I am still working into my daily routine, but I already have felt the benefits.

Affirmations

Shower time. It is a good job I live alone or else my roomies would think I was a little crazy. I have a little list of affirmations that I have memorised and I repeat out loud whilst I shower. This always puts a smile on my face and puts me into girl boss mode.

Focus

By this I mean, ask yourself what is it you really want? Through meditation, visualisation and writing your thoughts and goals down you can fine tune and focus what you wish to achieve. This in itself is motivating as you can begin to break down on a daily basis how you are going to reach your goals. I take a little time out each morning to first of all calm my mind through meditation. After this I then usually feel like I need to empty my head of all the ideas I have into my notebook. I then hit up Pinterest and start pinning things to my vision board, from my dream home to my dream wardrobe.

Eat a Good Breakfast & Don’t touch your phone

I have been brought up that during dinner time it is impolite to use your phone. Even if you live alone, make this promise to yourself: Enjoy your food without distraction. Cook yourself a good breakfast and sit there and be in the moment. Once you plate or bowl is clean, then allow yourself to check your social media.

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Try a few of these methods and see how it makes you feel of a morning. For me, it truly works and I rarely have a morning now where I am grumpy. It might take me a little longer some mornings to get out of bed, and yes I still hit snooze sometimes, but overall I do at least 3 of these steps on a daily basis. When you start doing all of these steps, that is when you really feel the difference and the power of how waking up happy and excited every day can really help shape and change your life.

What is your morning routine?