Months ago, I started a new weekday morning routine.
I wake up at 5 am, make coffee, and do an UNMEASURED barre class. With the colder weather, a fire in the fireplace has also become part of this little pre-sunrise ritual.
This consistent practice was born from a true need and also a deep desire for solo time before the day turns “on.”
Like yours, my days are full. They are full of holding space for others, like my kids and my clients. They are full of connecting with people on social media, my husband, friends, and family. They are full of making snack plates and folding laundry and coordinating schedules and wondering how that room I just picked up is somehow not picked up five minutes later. They are full of creating content and crafting responses and dreaming + planning for what’s next while also trying to be here now.
I both needed and desired something that was for me before replying to those texts, before comforting that tantrum, before answering those questions, before writing that post.
I needed + desired a chance to hold space for myself, to connect with myself, to create trust with myself, to be here now with myself before the rest of the world. It’s been so nourishing.
And, I’m also reminded of a time — in what feels almost like a past life — where I’d set my alarm early to move my body that felt differently. A time when it felt punishing, obsessive and rigid.
So, what’s different now?
What makes consistency shift from being obsessive + rigid to supportive + nourishing?
You can experience consistency without rigidity! Here’s how…
First, start with your intention
What is your intention for this consistent practice? Is it to nourish yourself? To care for yourself? To act lovingly toward yourself?
Or is the intention based in control, manipulation, “fixing” yourself, perfectionism, or to prove your enoughness?
Consistency without rigidity is rooted in connection, not control.
Second, make it flexible!
Change is an inevitable part of the human experience. We aren’t robots, and we can’t expect ourselves to operate within a robotic schedule. Embracing flexibility within a consistent practice is essential for releasing rigidity.
There are absolutely days when I do not get up at 5 am (like yesterday, for example) or when I do get up at 5 am but choose to do something other than taking a barre class.
The next tip will help you to navigate the flexibility within your routine!
Third, trade judgment for curiosity
Curiosity is one of the greatest pathways to connection. So how do you connect with what you need? By asking! And then listening to the wisdom that follows.
Rather than judging yourself, be curious. What do you need more or less of? What’s going well? What’s no longer working? Where are you feeling resentful? How do you want to feel?
These are all questions I ask myself regularly, and they help me navigate flexibly within my morning routine.
Last, practice self-compassion
I’ve got an entire post on self-compassion here.
Self-compassion will renew your experience with consistency, as it will with most experiences in life.
Where are you craving some nourishing consistency in your life?
