Now that the new year has arrived, I decided that one of my resolutions is to have a "mindful morning" every day.

You're probably wondering what a "mindful morning" means so let me break it down:

• A mindful morning is basically a morning that consists of a developed routine, sets you up for a productive day, and motivated you to be your best self every single day!

• Your mindful morning is specialized to you and you decide what will make you feel your best

• Essentially, the goal is to wake up everyday with an intention for success and feeling ready to conquer the day!

Like I said, your routine is specific to you and different things work for everyone, however; I have gathered some of the crucial elements of my morning routine that have made me start 2023 on the right track!

Here are 5 steps to rebuilding your 2023 morning routine to feel the glow WTHN:

1. STOP THE SNOOZE

As a high school student myself, I know that is is so easy to just hit the snooze button as soon as your alarm blasts, but it is vital to break that habit in order to implement a productive morning routine.

I learned that I am a nicer person throughout the day when I give myself time to actually wake up my mind and body in the morning, and to work through my routine at a leisurely pace rather than a rushed one.

According to Hal Elrod from his book The Miracle Morning, "Repeatedly hitting the snooze button in resistance to rising gives you the sense that you have nothing to look forward to, leading to feelings of purposelessness and passivity very similar to what depressed people feel."

The key part in getting rid of your need to hit snooze is to build your morning routine as one that will motivate you to wake up in the morning!

2. HYDRATE

I know that this sounds cliché, but just trust me, drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning is a game changer!

Jeff Sanders, author of The 5 AM Miracle, says his favorite morning habit is to drink one liter of water within the first 45 minutes of bouncing out of bed. "I always find that this larger quantity of water provides incredible energy and prepares my body for the day ahead."

We become so dehydrated after sleeping for around 7 hours, so it is important to replenish your body with water in the morning to get you mind ready for the day.

Bonus points: Take your vitamins/supplements with your water to kill two birds with one stone!

3. MOVEMENT IS KEY

As a varsity athlete who endures long practices after school, in addition to the strenuous school day, my body is so tight and sore when I wake up.

This tightness mostly turns in to pain, and the pain turns into crankiness, which lasts the whole day.

Therefore, every morning I try to incorporate some kind of quick stretch to wake up my muscles and activate my body; this preps myself for making it through a long high school day.

Niki Leondakis, the CEO of the luxury lifestyle brand Equinox, who regularly does morning yoga, says, "I've always known that you have to be physically healthy and strong to be mentally healthy and strong. It's all connected."

Additionally, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, the owner of lifestyle company Goop, says that she works out every morning to stabilize blood flow and wake up her body.

You could also try incorporating mindful meditation along with your stretching flow to set your intentions for the day and clear your mind.

4. EAT A PROTEIN PACKED BREAKFAST

Let's face it, the school day can be long and tiresome and our energy levels always tend to lower by the time we come home. That's why it is so important to eat a breakfast filled with protein to keep you full for longer, kick-start you brain for school, and fuel your body.

Protein is a significant part of a balanced breakfast and has numerous benefits, especially for high school athletes, for muscle development, fat-loss, and hormone balance.

Here are some of my favorite breakfasts rotations that I have gone through during the first two months of 2023:

1. Avocado toast and eggs

2. Collagen coconut yogurt bowl

3. Protein oatmeal

4. Collagen berry smoothie

5. Spinach and mushroom egg white bites

5. NO COFFEE ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

Ok let me start off by saying that I am a caffeine addict. I need my morning cup in order to be a nice person. However, I have started drinking my cup of coffee either with or after my breakfast, but never on an empty stomach.

Coffee is so acidic that is hard on our stomach to digest in the morning, and causes our bodies to go into a stress response, shooting out cortisol, and to put us in kind of a fight-or-flight state.

Especially for women, hormone health is so important for a balanced life and drinking coffee will mess up the balance of our hormones by raising our cortisol, blood sugar, and ultimately stress.

Drinking coffee with another substance that provides fuel to our body remediates those jitters and avoids caffeine spikes that cause stress to our body.

I promise you that your hormones, skin, and gut-health will thank you once you start to make this small alter in your coffee routine.

THE TAKEAWAY

Of course, these are just my recommendations for a productive, mindful, and successful morning routine, but it is important to remember that you need to do what works for you.

The key takeaway is to prioritize your mornings and make them motivating for yourself and for the rest of your day. This mindset is the key to building success in 2023!