it’s 2025 and morning routines are still hot
my current morning routine, why 2024 was my year of no morning routines
2024 was my year of no morning routines. It was a year of loving semi-hectic, haphazard, do-what-you-will, come-what-may type of mornings. I thrived in the chaos of an unmeditated morning. I’d slap on my slippers, splash water on my face, slather on some face oils, let my dog out, grab my journal and water bottle and head on upstairs.
When I think about why I felt so inclined to remove a morning routine from my day, it was this: I was in the midst of editing and designing a book, two large to-do’s that took a lot longer than I had anticipated in order to accomplish them in the way I wanted. It sounds strange, but pouring this effort into a project daily, with my intention being to create something beautiful and different, made me feel like I wanted to crash up the against new edges, experience things I wouldn’t have, meet disorder and find the poetry in it.
I think when you’re trying to create something that doesn’t exist, it’s helpful to live in a way where you invite the unexpected – as thoughts in your mind or as physical, tangible experiences. I broke the order in order to create some new ones. By omitting a morning routine (except for reading a dream statement), I allowed my mind to think different thoughts because there was no pattern; new ideas could emerge.
So why is it that in 2025, day 1 (Jan 1), I felt that it would be a year of morning routines once more? I questioned myself on this because I think the notion of morning routines is one that can be viewed in a smarmy, live-love-laugh way, or a savvy, work-towards-your-aim type of thing. Here is a list of reasons why I feel like morning routines can be great.
If there are tangible goals you wish to achieve, a morning routine gets you into the headspace to repeatedly see your goal as real already and take action. (I feel like my desire to come up with new ideas whilst writing a book overrode this sentiment, hence 2024 being a no-morning-routine year.)
If you wish to get out of your shell, a morning routine can help you feel more like the person you wish to be before you can revert to a way of being you don’t actually wish to embody.
A morning routine is essentially time for you before giving it to anyone else. It’s an act of self-care, and can lighten your mood and level you out for any unexpected hiccups that day.
A morning routine is a chance to create a feeling within you that you wish to feel before your day even properly begins. This feeling can do things both practical by shifting the way in which we act, and possibly have ethereal effects, if indeed what we feel, we attract.
A morning routine allows us to set a daily intention and mull in it for however long we have to indulge in one. Each day gets collected into an glass arrowhead, heading towards a general direction we may wish to head in.
So today, being January 1st, I did my morning routine which included:
Reading my dream statement. I have loose leaf A5, creamy paper that I write my dream statement on. I especially love the Midori blank paper writing pad in cream for this. (There’s directions in how I wrote mine in Chapter 6 of The Manifestation Diaries.)
Reading affirmations. I wrote about 2-3 pages of affirmations a few weeks ago (I share how I write my own affirmations that feel just right for the little challenges we might be facing in Chapter 11 of The Manifestation Diaries) and I read them out to remind me of the thoughts I wish to think. When I read these affirmations, I feel like I’m less likely to default to the worst case scenarios in my mind, and more likely to then act towards the scenarios I wish to live.
Meditation. My intention with meditation at the moment is to feel the way I wish to feel for the day, feel more intuitive and check in with myself. I went back to basics today and returned to The Insight Timer app, just using their basic timer. The downside is all the ads, but I focus my eyes mostly on what gets me to the timer. My settings were:
Duration: 10 minutes
Interval bells: 1 single (at 5 minutes – to remind me I’m meditating because I sometimes get lost in thought midway through)
Ambient sound: raindrops
Ending bell: basu
Journaling. I wrote in my journal a series of sentences that evoked the feeling I wish to feel today. On this note, here are some new year journaling prompts:
How do I want to feel this year?
What is my word for the year?
What are three habits my dream self would do that I wish to do?
What would I like to achieve this year?
What are three things I want to change?
What are three things I want to keep?
Plan for the day. I got out my Sofia Coppola 2025 planner (feeling very lucky I got my hands on one) and began to write a few things under ‘notes’ including a few affirmations, adding in detail to my schedule for today.
What has changed in this morning routine as opposed to ones I’ve done in the past? Nothing of the actual routine itself interestingly enough, but I, as a person, do feel different. I think my general life outlook and my philosophies have changed but that has not really changed the excitement and possibilities that I aim to let myself feel during a morning routine.
I think a morning routine helps you feel put-together, and if that is a feeling you wish to feel, then maybe it’s something worth trying (again) this year. Will you or will you not be doing a morning routine this year?