The Easter Holidays for Uni students are a strange time, whilst wanting to take some time to relax away from the Uni culture and catch up with our friends and family, we are constantly made aware of the impending exams that are creeping ever closer as the weeks go on. For me, an important part of the Easter holidays is making time to de-stress, and I've really been enjoying the valuable time to myself I have in the morning.
Now, I haven't been doing anything ground-breaking, like running a full 5k before breakfast, but I think that it is important to make sure your mind is awake, prepped and ready for the day before starting any sort of arduous work. I feel like my Easter morning routine has definitely nailed this criteria.
1. Wake up at a reasonable time
It's the holidays, so I'm not going to be forcing myself up too early, but I like to get up at a reasonable time to treat myself to even more morning time to relax. I hate alarms (they make me really anxious!) so recently, a hack that I have been using to wake myself up earlier naturally, is to leave my curtains open so that the natural light wakes me up around 7:30. If I'm feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed, I'll get out of bed then, but normally I like to have a dose for at least an hour to make sure that I'm well rested and ready to start the day.
2. Get moving
Whether this is some light yoga, an ab workout or 10km on my exercise bike, it is an important step to get myself feeling active. Especially as student I often am living a very sedentary lifestyle, sat down on my laptop all day, so to get up and moving in the morning gives a bit of variety to my day! I throw on some leggings and choose from one of the above options depending on how motivated I am feeling.
3. Make a Matcha
Me and my sister have recently been really getting into Matcha in the morning before breakfast. I have been trying to steer away from coffee so Matcha is the perfect healthy alternative! We ordered the Pure Chimp Matcha starter set from Amazon, which comes with a mini whisk and spoon, and some Vanilla My Protein Flavdrops and they are delicious!
4. Write a to-do-list for the day
If you know me, you know that I can never start a day without a to-do-list, it helps me to set out clear goals to achieve in the day. I like to do this the night before, ideally, but if I haven't had the time this is the perfect time to do so (sitting in the bath, Matcha in one hand, pen in the other). I try to set myself at least three tasks to do throughout the day and make them achievable. If they are too unobtainable you will be disappointed at the end of the day if you don't get them all done!!
5. Have a long bath
My favourite part of my morning! I can set in place my intentions for the day whilst getting ready and feeling fresh for the rest of the day. I am such a bath person and I feel like a bath in the morning helps to really clear your mind and set yourself up in a good headspace. I like to pop on a good podcast, put my phone away to the side so that I can't scroll on it, and get started on writing my to-do-list.
6. Make breakfast
To feed my brain and my body I like to have a good healthy breakfast to give me some more energy after the Matcha. My go to options are avocado toast, fruit and yogurt or eggs. All of the above provide me with the goodness I need to fuel me up until lunchtime!
7. Start the day
After all of these steps I am now ready to start the day. It might seem like a slow morning, but it really is an essential step to a successful day! When you have achieved all of these things on the list above you will feel calm, organised and prepared, which will really help in your productivity levels for the rest of the tasks the day will put in front of you!
:)) xxx