Have you ever woken up feeling exhausted?

After a couple of google searches, you discover that it’s either lack of quality of sleep or not getting enough hours of sleep that’s causing you to wake up feeling this way. Good news is there are solutions for lack of quality sleep and not getting enough hours of sleep.

What is harder however is actually doing the work, breaking those bad habits that keep you up at night and forming good ones.

I was depressed about the state I was in before setting up a morning routine.
I remember going to sleep most nights feeling tired, but instead of actually sleeping I would grab my phone and browse the internet, go to social media and reply to text messages.

Was it the best thing to do at that time?
No, in fact, I would regret it the very next morning.

I would wake up feeling not only tired but frantic that I missed fajr. I didn’t want the day start, I needed an extra hour or two of sleep. I did not want to deal with the nappies, bottles, dishes, and laundry. I didn’t want to get out of bed but I had to. I had two under 2.

My days were not productive, there was no time to do anything except take care of the kids and keep up with the chores. Sometime in between losing my patience and folding laundry, I’d promise myself that tomorrow will be a better Insha Allah. I will wake up energetic, excited and have a really productive day. I will wake up on time for Fajr, exercise and plan my day.
This was my reality, my story. I did the same thing over and over again until I felt sick. I couldn’t deal with yet another day of feeling guilty and letting myself down for breaking my own promises.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Unknown

I was ready to make some changes but I had to keep them simple,

1. Go sleep early and try to get 8 hours of sleep.
2. No phone, laptop or iPad in bed.

Things already looked promising.

I started with getting a quality of sleep and aim for 6-8 hours of sleep. But sadly I still had no morning routine and eventually, I felt that all my efforts were going to waste because I was going back to sleep after Fajr.

The Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) asked for the morning to be a blessed time for his ummah and going back to sleep after fajr was just not what I would call productive or seizing the day.

Back to the drawing board, again I had to start with simplicity in mind that’s because I am not one to be consistent if things are complicated or overwhelming.

Creating a Simple Morning routine starts with

1. Gratitude:
   When you are starting off don’t go for a journal, or listing x amount of things you are grateful for just remember the sunnah of reading your dua for waking up.
   “All praise is for Allaah who gave us life after having taken it from us and unto Him is the Resurrection.”
   If you are blessed with another day, how can you forget to be grateful for it?

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2. Pray Fajr (when you are not praying still wake up)
   Don’t hit that snooze button when you are not praying. This is a habit we should have as a Muslimah’s because we can still wake up to make dua and to read our morning athkaar. Which leads me

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3. Read your Morning athkaar
   Something amazing happens when this becomes a habit, you start to memorize the dua/athkaar and before you know it you can put down your husnil Muslim (fortress of a Muslim) Amazon link.

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4. Read Quran a great benefit of staying up after fajr is that you can stay sat on the same spot you prayed, read Quran, make dua and read your athkaar. All of which is the Sunnah of the prophet (Sallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam)
   

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5. Drink Water and open the blinds. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day became so much easier when the first thing you do in the mornings is drinking one cup. Only 7 to go 😉
   

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6. Plan your day, have your planner ready, what is it that you want to do today. There is a higher chance of it actually getting done when you have written it in your planner/ calendar than when it’s a mental list that’s easily forgotten.
   

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7. Get dressed as a stay at home moms we have options, stay in your pj’s, put on some gym clothes or put on some leggings with a t-shirt. I actually find that when I get dressed I am more likely to get things done and get out of the house (in my mind I am already dressed why not). So if I put on my work out clothes better believe I am going to work out.

The best thing about creating a simple morning routine

when you are starting off is that you have a starting point. You can eventually add to it as the kids get older.

Download your Simple Morning Routine Checklist Freebie

I have created a freebie printable for you to print and design your own Simple Morning routine (sign up by providing your email below and it will be send to you). It’s a checklist that you can completely customize to your own needs.I hope you enjoy using it and remember you don’t have to do everything all at ones. Be flexible and consistent.

Do you have a morning routine? Share your tips for developing a morning routine below.