Morning routines and letting old, bad habits die.

With the first month of 2025 coming to a close (already?! 😱), I thought it would be nice to rehash a small blurb I wrote regarding trying out new morning routines, written in my September 2024 Roundup monthly newsletter. I hope this gives you some food for thought if you've been wanting to refresh your mornings, but struggling to kick old, bad habits. Enjoy!

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With the changing of seasons comes a shift in habits, welcoming the cozy nature of autumn 🍂 (and, honestly, getting ahead with preparing for a harrowing winter 🥶). In this Roundup edition, I talk about changing up my routines, new birds sighted, what's the difference between birdwatching and birding, and new paintings that are available for purchase as of today!

What's a morning routine anyway?

Transitioning into the cooler months, I like to reflect on my daily rituals and routines to see what needs to change in order to bring more comfort and coziness into my life.

I'm a big believer that mornings hold so much bliss, peace, and should serve YOU. No social media, no doom-scrolling, no checking messages/emails, no consuming random stranger's thoughts, especially first thing in the morning! Unfortunately, using my phone as my morning alarm has caused old habits to come back hard. If you struggle with these things and want to change, here's some things that you can try to undo the mess:

• Charge your phone in a different room - bonus is if you use it as your alarm, it forces you out of bed 😀
• Set screen time limits - I've set certain apps to not open/notify from 10pm to noon the next day 🤷 I use the ScreenZen app (not sponsored) to completely block apps and websites to deter my browsing habits when I'm really struggling. 
• Go outside, first thing - I'm incorporating birding into my morning routine, but a quick walk is a great option! There's nothing better than crisp, autumn morning air.
• Meditate, meditate, meditate - preferably not in bed to avoid falling asleep again.
• Journal/brain dump - this is a good excuse to stay in bed, but also process thoughts in an active way, leading to a better start to the day!