Rise and shine, sleepyhead! Each and every morning presents a unique opportunity to improve. This is especially true while in recovery, when the goal is to actively reshape one’s quality of life.
Make the most of the early hours by creating a healthy morning routine that helps launch a productive day.
Benefits of a routine
The recovery journey provides a fresh slate, allowing you to approach life from a healthy new perspective. Establishing a new daily routine is an important part of the renewal process.
Before you start, consider the benefits of adopting a daily routine:
- Provides structure to the day: In early recovery, structuring your day can be restorative. Your new routine gives each day a sense of momentum and purpose.
- Helps you feel in control: A daily routine makes you feel more control over how you spend your time. This helps reduce stress, which in turn reduces the risk of relapse.
- Promotes healthy lifestyle habits. Once you have entered recovery, a daily routine can help you practice overall wellness as a healthy new habit.
Tips for forming a daily morning routine
The first thing to know before starting a new daily routine is that new habits can take about two months to take root. Consistency is the secret to success. Stick to the plan every day, and before you know it, these healthy actions will become solidified as new habits.
Try the following:
- Get a good night’s sleep: The quality of sleep you get has an enormous impact on how your day will pan out. Sticking to a regular sleep schedule and morning wake-up time helps stabilize your body clock. When setting your alarm, allow enough time to complete your morning routine without feeling rushed.
- Have a cup of hot lemon water: Before you have your coffee, tea, or breakfast, enjoy a soothing cup of hot lemon water, which improves digestion and metabolism. Simply squeeze 1/6 of a lemon into some warm water to alkalize your body.
- Stretch your body: Get the blood moving by engaging in some easy stretching techniques. Follow a YouTube channel for some short videos that teach stretching exercises or yoga poses. If you have time, try to fit in a brisk walk, too.
- Eat a healthy breakfast: Resist the urge to skip breakfast, as it truly is the most important meal of the day. If you’re ravenous in the morning, excellent! Whatever your morning appetite is, go for healthy choices such as steel cut oatmeal with fresh fruit, eggs, whole wheat toast, or even just some Greek yogurt.
- Check in with yourself: Our state of mind is the most powerful predictor of how our day will go. Begin your day with a quick check-in. If your mood state needs a little boost, read a daily devotional or inspirational quote. If you are still in a funk, attend a meeting or see your therapist.
- Plan your day: Start the day off with a game plan. Review any tasks or appointments you must attend to that day, and make a to-do list if that helps to reduce stress.
Remember, it will take some time for your new routine to feel automatic. But the benefits are worth it. Reaching a place where your daily routine truly reflects who you want to be in recovery is well worth the self-discipline and commitment needed to make it stick.
Ashley Addiction Treatment, formerly Father Martin’s Ashley, is a nationally recognized nonprofit leader in integrated, evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders. Our programs are accredited by The Joint Commission, and result in frequent publications of ongoing research into effective treatment methodologies. We offer holistic care that encompasses the mind, body and spirit through inpatient and outpatient treatment, provide drug detox, relapse prevention plans, family wellness programs and a variety of other services tailored to each patient’s unique needs. Our driving principle — “everything for recovery” — reinforces our mission to transform and save lives through the science of medicine, the art of therapy and the compassion of spirituality, and is complemented by our philosophy of healing with respect and dignity. For information about our comprehensive programs, please call (866) 313-6307.