Truth be told, I’m writing this post in response to waking up today with that familiar old knot of anxiety in my stomach… Who knows why it’s here but what I do know is that I can’t go back and have any effect whatsoever on what caused it. All I can do is take control of how I move forward and ultimately deal with it.

Maybe you’ll never be that person that jumps out of bed, full of beans and raring to go – and that’s ok, truly it is – I don’t think I’ll ever be that person either. I consider it a win if I wake up calm, (relatively) alert and even just a smidge excited about the day ahead.

Whichever type of morning person you are, I can guarantee that these tips will help you wake up happier and live a better, more positive life.

I will, however, preface this post by saying… life happens (profound I know). Sometimes things will happen that sneak their way into your head or heart and affect the way you show up. That’s just life. Obviously the more that we can practice and master controlling our reactions to things aka which thoughts we give energy too and which we don’t, the calmer and happier we will feel. Just please don’t beat yourself up if you find yourself being a bit too ‘human’ every now and again… Catch it, redirect your energy towards what matters and move on.

Anyone scrolling through this post looking for a quick fix or a magic pill then I hate to break it to you but ‘self-development’ of any kind is a lifetime practice. Most of us here could have 20, 30, 40 even 50 years of conditioning that we need to unravel and put back together in a way that works for us… It’s slow going, guys.

One thing I can promise you though is that if you do commit to daily self-development, little and often, you will feel better and better and better. You might not notice results today, or even tomorrow, but I know that in time you’ll look back and see just how much of a difference it has made.

I personally like to think of it as I would ‘saving for my future’ (something I’ve historically been pretty bad at *hides face*), all those little deposits that you think will never really amount to anything worthwhile, until you check your account 4 years later and realise that actually, you’re well on your way to that house deposit. Crazy to think that you barely missed the money you were putting away at the time and now look…

Small actions, repeated consistently equal massive end results.

When it comes to any kind of self-development focus on little and often, strengthening the mind with each day that passes until one day you are the person that you so desperately wanted to become.

5 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO WAKE UP HAPPY

ONE

Have an attitude of gratitude. We all know how important this is but try practising gratitude each morning, as soon as you open your eyes. Before you do anything else, think about 3 things that you’re grateful for. It’s so easy, you can do it from the comfort of your bed, in fact, you don’t even need to open your eyes. I can guarantee that starting your day this way will have a profound effect on your overall happiness.

TWO

Make sure you’re getting enough sleep. It’s no secret that I need about 9 hours to function at my best – whatever that number is for you, make sure you’re getting it. To improve the quality of your sleep try to make as much of it as possible, happen before midnight. If you’re struggling to fall asleep you could try reducing your screen time before bed – this one is a biggie. If it’s because of an overactive mind try meditation or journaling before bed, it often helps to get all those thoughts out of your mind and down onto paper.

THREE

Avoid social media until you’re ready to start your day. From the minute you leave your house or sit down at your desk, you’ll be bombarded with images and clips of other peoples lives, their highlight reels. Put this off for as long as you can. We tend to be super receptive to things in the morning so be strict with what you allow in, I also find that if I start the day mindlessly scrolling then I tend to do a lot more of it throughout the day too. Start as you mean to go on.

FOUR

Add a little self-care to your morning routine. If you generally just shower, get dressed and go, go, go…experiment with claiming back a little of that time for yourself to do something that makes you happy. It could be reading a chapter of a book, listening to a podcast over coffee, having a quick stretching or even simply playing with your dogs. Whatever it is, it doesn’t need to be long, just 10 mins or so of feeding your soul will work wonders for how you feel for the rest of the day. I’ve finally worked out my own slow morning routine and it’s working wonders! (You can have a nosey HERE.)

FIVE

Set an intention for the day. Once I’ve gone through my little gratitude list I try to set an intention for the day ahead, something along the lines of; ‘Today I will approach every interaction with curiosity and kindness.’ That simple reminder can make a huge difference to how you approach your day, which in turn has a huge effect on how you feel.

There you have it! 5 simple and achievable ways to wake up happy.

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK?

If you are struggling right now then I’m sending you so much love and I really hope these help – if you ever want to chat, you know where I am.

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