I HAVE NEVER TOLD YOU THIS BEFORE...

" YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A GREAT START, BUT YOU HAVE TO START TO BE GREAT"

ZIG ZIGLAR

Not all that long ago, I used to dread mornings.

It's true...

A little flashback: My first child (who is now 20 years old) did not sleep through the night for almost 4 years, just in time for his younger brother to be born. Tack on a couple more years for my second child, and that equals almost 6 years of sleep deprivation.

I used to wake up feeling worse than tired. Many, many mornings were wrought with feeling foggy, depleted, depressed, hopeless and I was not sure how I was going to keep going. A bowl of instant oatmeal or a banana used to be all I could muster up for breakfast, if anything at all.

On my recent trip to visit family and new babies, I was reminded just how hard mornings (and lack of sleep) can be.

While I have many fond memories of babies and toddlers, I also remember the desperation, overwhelm, and exhaustion like it was yesterday.

I am sure if I knew then what I know now, things (maybe) could have been different, but the truth is, I didn't. I did the best I could at the time for both me and my sleep challenged babies.

Starting off the day feeling this way for so long really impacted my appreciation for sleep and morning rituals.

As my kids grew older, I was able to reclaim my mornings. I loved to wake up before my children (because they finally slept) to take some alone time for myself. From there, this gradually grew into my morning rituals, morning practice, and my making time to take care of ME.

There are many ways to reclaim, revolutionize and power up our mornings. Quiet time to ourselves, yoga, mediation, long walks in nature, journaling, gratitude practices, and setting an intention for the day, just to name a few.

One VERY important part for me is fueling my body well in the morning. When I do this, I have the energy and balance to handle the busyness of day-to-day living in this often chaotic world.