216. Morning routines

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Hello darling heart and welcome to this episode of the drink less live better podcast.

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This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring.

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I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back.

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I'm here to support you with your alcohol free or drink less adventures.

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Follow me on Instagram at drink less, live better, and find resources on my website, drinkless,livebetter.com. I hope you enjoy this episode. Let's get straight to it. Morning routines.

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Let's talk about personal development or growth.

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I take it with a pinch of salt.

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I use the advice I often give my clients, take what you need and leave the rest.

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Some of what I see going into the category of personal development, I view as torture, and some I see as just plain ridiculous. Morning routines. We're gonna look at this today. Here's my disclaimer.

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If you have a solid routine that works for you, then you have got something that is neither torture nor ridiculous, and you

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should perhaps carry on with it and not listen to the rest of this podcast. Here's my thing.

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This is the one thing that you need to have in your morning routine.

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It's the non negotiable and the only thing that will support you to have any kind of day, good or otherwise. Are you ready?

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This is going to blow your mind. The one thing is wake up. That's it. That's all you need to do.

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Wake up and then make your next conscious decision.

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Sure, you can read and take what you need from the miracle morning, atomic habits, the four hour work week or the 5AM club,

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and if any or all of those ideas and concepts work for you then go with it. If they don't, be careful.

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I read all of those books and got deep into a morning routine back in 2018, '20 '19 maybe, and it served me okay at the time,

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apart from the fact that I was knackered.

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You see, I could get up early.

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I could be conscious and upstanding at 5AM in the morning, do stretches, the exercise, write my morning pages or bullet journal

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or gratitude diary, drink the green smoothie, take the supplements, meditate, and plan my to do list for the day.

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But this was not the structure I wanted to live by long term.

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I was borrowing somebody else's instructions for a life well lived, and I didn't consider whether it was my life well lived or not. I needed something gentler.

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Each of those books I mentioned above are written by men, and I'm sure their ideas work for many men and also women, but I

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now realize the energy around those early morning habits are not what I need.

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I am a morning person, so it was nothing to do with getting up.

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It was to do with the pressure to achieve and to be productive in a way that I now consider to be quite forceful and, well, strivy.

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So do you want to know what my morning routine is?

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When I wake up, either by alarm or naturally, I allow my waking thought to be this, breathe.

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I lie with my eyes closed and I think to myself, breathe, and then I feel myself breathe.

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I take a long deep breath and I breathe it out slowly.

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I do this at least twice more before I allow anything else to sneak into my brain.

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I just lie and think about breathing for a minute or two.

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I also then allow myself a couple of thoughts about how amazing the world is.

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It could be something as shallow as a puddle. I love these pyjamas. This duvet cover is so pretty.

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I'm so happy there's tea to drink in my kitchen, or it might be a bit deeper.

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I sometimes think, oh yeah, aren't I supposed to have a gratitude practice where I write down that I'm thankful for my family,

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the weather system, and the freedoms I'm fortunate to enjoy, and then I remember that I pick most of the big things up as

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I go about my regular day, almost noting them down, nodding to them, and silently acknowledging so many of the good things

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in my life as I walk about in my life. So I wake up. That's it. That's my morning routine, one component.

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My weekly routine has a few other moving parts.

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I do an early morning strength training class three times a week, movement, muscle buildings, and community with other people in my class. I walk my dog every day.

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I scribble a few notes in my journal when I feel like it.

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I have a system in place to allow me to be a fully functioning human being, but I am just that.

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I am a human being, not a human doing.

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I am not defined by what I may or may not achieve by 6AM.

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I love structure, but I've built my scaffolding system as I need and want it, not as someone else has prescribed it for me. There we go.

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That's my idea to help you today. Wake up. Breathe. Is it groundbreaking? I think not. Is it useful? I hope so.

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Take what you need and leave the rest. Thank you for listening in today. Come back again next week.

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Check out the show notes for a link to a hidden podcast episode that will help you with your 5PM cravings and details about

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my one to one life coaching and sober coaching programmes, and, PS, I believe in you.