“Is my morning routine holding me back?” —Stacy from WA
“Hey Abby, what is your morning routine? For the past few years, I’ve been adding on to my morning routine, but I’m curious to see if you have a special practice you do to help with fertility. Thanks, Stacy”
Hi, Stacy!
Interestingly enough, my morning routine has changed a great deal since starting my fertility journey. While I was in the thick of Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (at that point, I hadn’t had a period in three years), my morning routine was as follows:
4 AM wake up
4-4:20 Bathroom essentials
4:20-5:00 Yoga workout
5:00-5:30 Hot tea and journaling/planning
5:30-6:00 Make my lunch (pack a jar of peanut butter and a spoon or two hard boiled eggs for breakfast with another to-go cup of tea) for work and get dressed to get to work by 6:30 AM.
While it sounds like I had it all together, I actually spent most of this morning routine feeling rushed and constantly watching the clock. In fact, I was so stressed out about being on time that I had my Fitbit vibrating with alarms to move to the next activity.
Lots has changed. My current routine is a lot more fluid. I’ll include it below with an explanation of why it had to change for fertility.
5 AM wake up— I added the extra hour of sleep because I was really only getting about 6 hours of sleep a night. My body deeply craved meaningful rest. Adding a nap during the day was not only unattractive, but it would fall short in comparison to my solid block of night sleep.
5-5:20 Bathroom essentials— The only thing that has changed in this area is how I assess and think about my body. I used to squeeze every place that looked like it had too much fat. I would work myself up in fear to “behave” for the day. Now I’m conscious when a thought like that pushes into my mind and I push back.
5:20-5:35 Stretching instead of a full yoga routine— Because I have just woken up and cortisol is still high, this is not the time for a full workout even if it seems as calming as yoga. I stretch and assess how my body feels at this time.
5:35-6:15 Get ready for the day— Because now I don’t need to cool down from the yoga workout, I get dressed. I pack my lunch and fix my breakfast at the same time. I EAT my breakfast, which is now an actual meal instead of a giant spoonful of peanut butter, and THEN I plan my day while my stomach isn’t growing and my head isn’t pounding which puts me in a much better mental space. I still leave for work at about 6:15. Occasionally, I fix myself a glorious cup of tea (with real cream now instead of the fat free diet stuff I used to use), but I wait until after I’ve eaten to begin drinking it.
And finally, I no longer have a Fitbit to rush me through the morning.
Thanks for writing, Stacy!
