Morning routine - Do you have one?

Hello! Welcome to my newsletter.

In this newsletter I will be sharing with you how I handle everyday life with ADHD, but without ADHD medication. I will share tips, tools and strategies for you to introduce in to your own life so you too can manage your ADHD holistically.

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Meditation accountability group

For over the last 12 months I have been running a morning meditation group alongside Joseph Pack (https://www.drugfreeadhd.org/). It started as an accountability group, so people had a time and place to be able to meditate every day and keep them accountable to do so.

Meditation is a big pillar of both Joe’s and my coaching styles. We both believe it has the power to support those with ADHD (and those without) to feel more calm and content, more focused and ready to start the day.

Unfortunately, Joe can no longer co-host with me, and I’ve been left with needing to make the decision as to whether I continue on my own. Now you might be wondering what this all has to do with routine, but let me tell you, this call every morning is one of the only reasons I have a morning routine, and I honestly don’t know how I’ll cope without it.

My morning routine

My morning routine currently looks like this:

5am - The dogs wake us up and Oliver takes them for a walk and feeds them, I go back to sleep 🤣

6am - Oliver brings me a cup of coffee and comes back to bed for a bit, we chat and scroll on our phones

6:45am - We make our way downstairs for a dip in the ice bath. We both go in for 3 mins each

7am (ish) - I go for a shower and get dressed

7:30am - I host the meditation accountability call on Zoom

8am - I make myself some breakfast and a tea and then head up to my office to start my day

If I didn’t need to be on the meditation call at 7:30, I wouldn’t be getting up to have my dip at 6:45, I wouldn’t be in the shower by 7am and I wouldn’t be dressed, showered and ready to start my day by just after 8am.

A few reasons why my morning routine is vital in supporting my ADHD:

🥱 It reduces decision fatigue - if I have loads of decisions to make, I can quickly get overwhelmed, especially on a morning when I’m already grumpy and tired!

🔮 It creates predictability - I NEED structure, without it my life is just chaotic and super stressful.

⏳ It helps with my schedule - I have severe time blindness, but keeping to a routine keeps me on schedule.

🚀 It boost my focus and productivity - not only does having an actual routine itself help, meditation and cold water exposure also help to energise me and improve my focus for the morning!

☺️ It improves my mood and reduces my anxiety - knowing what is going to happen and when, really helps to lower any anxieties I may have at the start of the day. Also, my meditation practice helps to put me in a really calm and relaxed state and my ice bath gives me a great boost of dopamine!

Top tips for building a great morning routine

If you would like to start thinking about building a better morning routine, my biggest ‘top tip’ would be to start slow. If you go all in, you risk overwhelm and disappointment if you try to do it all at once and fail. (Although, personally, I never see trying as failure 💗)

1️⃣ (I'm going to repeat this…) Start slow - don’t overload yourself. Pick 1 or 2 key habits and start from there

2️⃣ Prepare the night before - get anything you will need for the following day (clothes, lunch, bag for work) ready the night before, this will help by reducing decision fatigue and the risk of overwhelm

3️⃣ Use alarms/timers/apps - set reminders for the key steps in your new routine. For example ‘Get up!’, ‘Meditate’, ‘Brush teeth’ etc.

4️⃣ Incorporate movement - if you are able to, including some sort of movement in your morning routine is a great way to start waking up your brain (now it’s getting lighter/warmer, this is my next aim to add into my routine!). A short walk, some yoga or even just a quick stretch.

5️⃣ Limit distractions - I am still really guilty of spending some of my morning scrolling, but if you are able to limit any distractions, this is a great way to avoid getting side tracked.

6️⃣ Lastly… be kind to yourself - if you don’t manage to build the best routine immediately, or maybe you slip up for a day or two, or maybe some mornings more sleep is actually going to be more beneficial than anything else, that is ok. Don’t beat yourself up.

Looking forward

In my heart I know that I will at least try to continue the daily meditation call, I’m just not sure what that looks like at the moment. I thrive on routine and structure, and now I have my own business I need it more than ever.

I’ve always wanted to be a morning person, but I’d never really felt like one until a year ago when I joined the meditation call. When I tell people I’m usually in my ice bath by 6:45am they think I’m crazy, maybe I am. But without these things I’d most definitely be crazier!

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Although I have temporarily closed subscriptions for the meditation group, whilst I figure out the logistics, if you are interested in joining please just hit reply and I will let you know when they re-open.

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I currently have a couple of spaces available for coaching. If you would to have a FREE discovery call, please follow this link: https://app.youform.com/forms/ccaga68h

If you are interested in coming along to my first ever Ice Bath Experience Workshop, please see here for more details and tickets.

I can also offer corporate Ice Bath Workshops, which are a transformative team-building experience designed to boost well-being, collaboration, and mental clarity. If you think your workplace might be able to benefit from this (spoiler alert, they definitely can and will!) hit reply and let’s talk!

Carly x