A new morning routine is something that organically took hold of me after I quit drinking. I hadn’t read anything about doing this to help with my sobriety journey. It just felt like what I wanted and needed to do.
After a month or two of catching up on my years long backlog of sleep deprivation, I started waking up early. Often before sunrise and feeling so good and so grateful.
Waking up with the sun, well rested and peaceful on a quiet morning, is a thing of beauty. It continues to delight me as I begin my second year alcohol free.
My Morning Routine In 4 Steps
I’ve summarized my morning routine below in 4 steps that can take as little as 15 minutes or longer if you have the time.
This is a routine I have found satisfying but you can certainly change it up to make it work for you. Depending on your stage of life, you will have more or less flexibility and time to do any or all of these things.
I remember when my 3 daughters were little and I had absolutely no time to myself from the moment they woke up. So I understand a morning routine that’s just for you might seem impossible, even selfish.
December 1998
But if you can get up even 15 minutes to a half hour earlier than your kids, I think you will find this time extremely beneficial for your mental health and well being.
Step 1 – Write, Think
Write down (or just think about) any waking dreams or thoughts and greet the day with gratitude.
After removing alcohol from my life, my head was often full of dreams when I woke up. When I was drinking I hadn’t even noticed that I was rarely dreaming.
Drinking alcohol changes your sleep cycles.
After a couple or more drinks in the evening, you will enter a 4 to 5 hour period of heavy sleep when you first go to bed. This heavy sleep cycle usually does not include any regular REM, or dream, cycles.
The REM cycle is a critical one that your brain needs to be healthy and process the information it has accumulated that day.
A non-drinker may have 7 to 8 REM cycles on a typical night. A regular drinker may have only 1 or 2 REM cycles.
Alcohol Ruins Your Sleep
You will usually wake up at the 4 to 5 hour mark after drinking and may have trouble falling back to sleep.
This is because the depressing effect of the alcohol has worn off and your brain wants to get going. The rest of the night will most likely be fitful and restless. Leading to a further lack of REM cycles.
This is why you are always tired as a drinker!
The first thing I do in my morning routine is to jot down any dreams I remember on a notepad that I keep by my bed. If I don’t feel like writing them down, I just spend a few minutes thinking about them and what they might mean for me.
I also might write down any thoughts I woke up with, even if they don’t make sense.
Listening to and trusting myself and my own intuition is a skill I am working on every day. In the past, I believe my senses have often been numbed by alcohol to these critical inner signals.
Next, I take a few moments to soak in the quiet morning with gratitude, before the hustle and bustle of the day begins.
For me this is such a beautiful and life-affirming part of my day.
Step 2 – Meditate
Guided or quiet meditation.
Early on in my alcohol free journey, I searched for a meditation app that appealed to me for my morning routine.
After sampling several different ones, I found one that resonated with me: Her Morning Meditation with Marjolaine.
Marjolaine’s guided meditations are short, usually just 6-7 minutes, and her voice is so soothing.
She refers to her meditations as being part of a “slow, intentional morning practice” and I have found them to be a wonderful and inspirational way to begin my day.
Oh – and my meditation is done with coffee in hand! I am a firm believer that meditation can be done in many ways, positions and places.
You do not have to be alone in the forest in a seated yoga position to get the calm and centering effect.
Step 3 – Read
READ inspirational, educational or motivational material. (Instagram and Tik Tok do not qualify!)
I read so many books about the science of alcohol and the damage it does to our mind, body and spirit. So I was on a mission to begin my healing process in all three areas.
I quit drinking at 58 years old and was interested in the topic of alcohol and it’s affect on aging and menopause. So I started my morning routine reading there.
Two books by one of my favorite authors, Dr. Christiane Northrup, M.D., a board-certified OB-GYN, made an impact on me. (I had read and enjoyed one of her earlier books, Mother-Daughter Wisdom, several years before.)
The Wisdom of Menopause and Goddesses Never Age, are wonderful resources if you are anywhere near this stage of life.
Dr. Northrup discusses in Goddesses Never Age the fact that drinking even just one alcoholic beverage a day puts you at a 60% increase of developing breast cancer. How come I didn’t know this? Ugh.
Step 4 – Move
Get in some stretching and cardio, take daily multivitamin and any vitamin supplements.
As a jogger for over 40 years, I still appreciate getting my heart pumping outside. I run or walk every day. This is my favorite time to put in the AirPods and listen to a podcast or book.
This pic an oldie but a goodie, Las Vegas, 2016
In Goddesses Never Age, Dr. Northrup states, that alcohol consumption inhibits the ability of folic acid, a B vitamin, to repair DNA. So she suggests a B-complex supplement for anyone who drinks.
In addition to a B vitamin deficiency, research suggests that the bodies of regular drinkers often have multiple vitamin deficiencies.
So I began supplementing early on in my AF journey. I knew I needed them to help me begin to repair the damage of long term drinking.
Since I am not a doctor, I can’t tell you what vitamins and supplements you should take. But, on pages 332-333 of Goddesses Never Age, there is a suggested list for women of peri-menopause age and beyond which I found very helpful.
Younger women or men will have to do their own research!
My morning routine ends at home with lots of hydration along with my vitamins and supplements.
Physically I am feeling so much better after over a year alcohol free. I’m looking forward to next year’s checkup and new blood work results. Hoping to see some improvement there too!
So that’s it. With these 4 steps or some variation of them, I hope you can find a way to start your alcohol free day with tranquility and strength.
I wish for you all good things!
xoxo,
Tammy
If you are looking for more information on what it’s like to change your life and go alcohol free, you can read more of my posts including Sober Hair is a Thing!, No More Hangovers and Removing Alcohol Makes You Braver and More Confident.