Have you ever woken up already exhausted, dreading the day ahead before it even begins?
That was me for years. I’d drag myself out of bed, gulp down coffee like it was medicine, and stumble through my mornings in a fog. By noon, I was running on fumes, and by evening, I’d collapse on the couch wondering why life felt so empty despite checking all the “success” boxes.
At 36, I hit a wall. Hard. Burnout sent me to therapy, where I had to face an uncomfortable truth: my mornings were setting the tone for everything that came after. The rushed, chaotic start was bleeding into every hour of my day, leaving me depleted and disconnected from what actually mattered.
The transformation didn’t happen overnight. But once I started treating my mornings as sacred time rather than something to survive, everything shifted. The exhaustion that had become my constant companion began to lift. That nagging sense of emptiness? It started filling with purpose and energy I hadn’t felt in years.
These seven morning practices changed everything for me. They might just do the same for you.
1. I stopped checking my phone for the first hour
This one was brutal at first. My phone was my alarm clock, my morning newspaper, my connection to the world. But it was also my biggest energy vampire.
Think about it: when you check your phone first thing, you’re immediately bombarded with other people’s priorities. Emails demanding responses, news that stresses you out, social media that makes you compare your morning face to someone’s highlight reel.
I moved my phone charger to the kitchen and bought an old-school alarm clock. Those first few mornings, my fingers literally twitched reaching for a phone that wasn’t there. But within a week, something magical happened. My mind felt clearer. Instead of starting my day reacting to the world, I was choosing how to enter it.
Now, that first hour belongs to me. No notifications, no demands, just peaceful intention-setting for the day ahead.
2. I started moving my body before my brain could protest
When I discovered trail running at 28, it was purely about stress relief from a demanding finance job. But it became so much more.
I wake at 5:30 AM now, and I’m on the trails before my inner critic has had coffee. There’s something transformative about moving through nature while the world sleeps. The quiet is different from any other time of day. It’s alive but peaceful, demanding nothing except that you keep putting one foot in front of the other.
You don’t need to run 20-30 miles a week like I do now. Start with a 10-minute walk. Do some stretches. Dance to one song. The point isn’t intensity; it’s honoring your body first thing in the morning. When you move before your mind starts listing all the reasons why you can’t or shouldn’t, you’ve already won the day.
3. I created a meditation practice that actually stuck
For years, I thought meditation meant sitting perfectly still with an empty mind. No wonder I failed at it repeatedly.
After my run, I spend 20 minutes just sitting with myself. Some days it’s following my breath. Other days it’s a guided meditation. Sometimes I just sit and notice the thoughts floating by like clouds. The key was letting go of doing it “right” and just doing it.
Research shows that meditation literally changes your brain structure, improving focus and emotional regulation. But honestly? I don’t do it for the science. I do it because it makes me feel like I’ve hit a reset button on my nervous system. Those 20 minutes create a buffer between the peace of early morning and the demands of the day.
4. I started eating breakfast like it mattered
Remember how our parents always said breakfast was the most important meal? Turns out they were onto something.
For years, my breakfast was whatever I could grab while rushing out the door. Usually nothing, sometimes a granola bar if I was lucky. Then I wondered why I crashed by 10 AM and needed three cups of coffee to function.
Now I treat breakfast as an act of self-care. I prepare something nourishing the night before: overnight oats with berries, a smoothie bowl, avocado toast with seeds and vegetables. Taking time to eat mindfully, without scrolling or rushing, tells my body and brain that I’m worth taking care of.
The energy difference is staggering. No more mid-morning crashes, no more desperate caffeine fixes. Just sustained energy that carries me through to lunch.
5. I write three pages of stream-of-consciousness thoughts
Julia Cameron calls them “Morning Pages” in her book The Artist’s Way. I call them my mental dump truck.
Every morning, I fill three pages with whatever’s in my head. Worries, dreams, grocery lists, random observations. It doesn’t matter. The point is getting it out of my head and onto paper. No editing, no judgment, just pure stream of consciousness.
This practice revealed patterns I never noticed. Worries that seemed huge in my head looked manageable on paper. Dreams I’d buried started surfacing. Solutions to problems appeared without forcing them.
Some mornings I write about nothing important. Other mornings I unlock insights that change my entire perspective. But every morning, I clear the mental clutter that used to weigh me down all day.
6. I set three non-negotiable priorities
Before, my to-do list was a monster that grew throughout the day, leaving me feeling perpetually behind. Now, I choose three things that must happen for the day to feel successful.
Not ten things. Not five. Three.
These aren’t always work tasks. Sometimes one is calling a friend. Sometimes it’s taking a proper lunch break. The magic is in the choosing. By deciding what actually matters before the day’s chaos begins, I stay connected to my values rather than just reacting to whatever feels urgent.
When I left my six-figure finance job at 37 to write full-time, this practice kept me sane. The freedom was overwhelming at first, but having three clear priorities each morning gave structure to my days and momentum to my new career.
7. I practice gratitude before complaints
This might sound woo-woo, but stick with me. Before my feet hit the floor, I name five things I’m grateful for. Sometimes they’re big: health, family, the career pivot that brought me joy. Sometimes they’re tiny: the smell of coffee brewing, my favorite running shoes, the farmer’s market where I volunteer on weekends.
This isn’t toxic positivity or pretending problems don’t exist. It’s choosing what gets my attention first. When gratitude leads, problems become things to solve rather than proof that life sucks.
The neuroscience backs this up: gratitude practices literally rewire your brain to notice more positive things. But beyond the science, starting with gratitude feels like putting on glasses that help me see opportunities instead of obstacles.
Final thoughts
These seven practices didn’t cure everything overnight. There are still mornings when the alarm feels like an enemy and meditation feels impossible. But consistency, not perfection, is what transformed my exhausted, unfulfilled existence into a life that feels purposeful and energized.
Start with one practice. Master it for a few weeks, then add another. Your morning routine should feel like a gift to yourself, not another thing to fail at.
That version of me who woke up tired and stayed that way all day? She feels like a different person now. The energy and fulfillment I was desperately seeking weren’t hiding in some future achievement or external validation. They were waiting in the quiet hours of morning, in the simple practices that honor who I am before the world tells me who I should be.
Your mornings are yours to claim. What will you do with them?