My favourite morning mood boosters involve caffeine. Lots of it.

I’m going to state right off the bat that I am not a morning person; never have been, and most likely never will be. I prefer to take things slow in the morning, and I’m pretty much useless until I’ve had at least one cup of hot caffeine, be it coffee or tea. Combine that with children who are regularly up and ready for action at 5:30 a.m. or earlier and mornings around here can be a little… stressful.

Fortunately I’ve found a few tricks — my morning mood boosters — that I can turn to that help me to turn my morning grumpiness into something more productive and positive.

My Top 4 Morning Mood Boosters

Let the sun shine in. One of my best morning mood boosters is actually just to open the curtains and blinds as soon as possible after I wake up; I find if I can do this right away, my mood tends to be better. Just seeing the sunlight come flooding into a previously dark room is enough to instantly put me in a better mood. Along with opening the curtains, if the weather is nice I also open the windows because I’ve found that smell of fresh air really boosts my mood, too. And if I can turbo-boost my sunshine and fresh air intake by getting out for a walk later on in the day, it makes the day go even better.

Make plans for the day. Making lists of stuff I want to get done during the day always helps me improve my mood. I love lists. Making lists helps me to feel organized and gets me jazzed about all the things I’m going to accomplish during the day. It seems to get my neurons firing and gives me a sense of purpose and direction that sets the tone for the day. And, of course, there’s the sense of accomplishment that comes from crossing the “done” items off later!

Eat breakfast. Sometimes, as a mother, you actually do forget to eat. You’re so busy making sure the little ones have eaten and getting them ready for the day that your tea gets cold sitting on the counter before you’ve finished it, and you haven’t even made yourself anything to eat! I find that when I make sure to eat something nutritious in the morning, it reduces my stress and makes the morning far easier to cope with.

Focus on appreciation. When I’m really frazzled in the morning (for instance, when the kids start fighting before I’ve even managed to make myself a cup of tea) I try and focus on one thing that I can appreciate. Maybe it’s the sunshine. Maybe it’s the fact that I have tea. Maybe it’s the fact that my youngest is finally potty-trained. Once I’ve focused on that for a little bit (all it takes is less than a minute of focusing!), I start looking around the room for other things to appreciate. Like the colour combination on one of the kids’ latest artistic masterpieces. And as I do this, I start to automatically think of more and more things to appreciate and enjoy… and all of a sudden, I’m in a much better mood!

Mornings can be stressful, especially when you’re not a morning person, but they don’t have to wreck your day! Adding these four morning mood boosters to your morning routine can help you get your day off to a better start. If you have your own strategies for morning mood boosters that you like to use, please share them in the comments section below! 🙂