"The alarm is blaring, you feel like you didn’t sleep enough, and the day’s tasks are looming over you. You want to fit in every wellness habit before you clock in or start your commute, but who has the time? In the past couple of months, I’ve become overwhelmed with all the different types of self-care I “should” be doing in the A.M. While there’s no shortage of morning rituals and daily habits, morning routines have become so overly complicated and time-consuming, they can do more harm than good (hi, anxiety).
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But one day, amid my TikTok doom-scrolling, I came across a new trend called “morning menu.” After implementing it into my routine, it has helped me stick to healthy habits without feeling overwhelmed. This morning routine trend is said to help you identify what tasks of the day are most important to you; it can be as short or as long as you need, depending on your to-dos and mood when waking up. Keep reading to find out what it is and how to build one tailored to you and your needs.
What Is a Morning Menu?
Originally coined by certified holistic health coach Valerie Ribon, the morning menu involves making a list of 10 morning routine rituals: five things you love to do and five things the best version of yourself would do. Every morning, you’ll choose items from the list (anywhere from one to five, depending on how much time you have) to honor what you need on any specific day. It’s a soft way of keeping up with healthy habits while tuning into and listening to your body every morning to help you feel better or be more productive (after all, your needs and wants can change daily). Maybe one day you feel like journaling, reading, and practicing manifestation, but the next, you’re more in the mood to be a Pilates girl, do a DIY lymphatic massage, and meal prep. It takes the pressure off of feeling like you need to do all the wellness things every day while allowing you to tweak your routine for how your body and desires change day by day.
Why Is It Effective?
According to Ribon, the concept of a “morning menu” is a biohack that takes into account the female body since the typical workday routine is made for men who have a daily hormone cycle that fluctuates over a 24-hour period (their testosterone levels are highest in the morning and lowest at night), so they are meant to do the same routine every morning. Men have a sustained level of energy every day; they generally feel and need the same daily. People with a reproductive cycle experience varying fluctuations depending on the phase of the cycle; their bodies need different things in each phase.
Even if you don’t use it as a cycle-syncing biohack, many people—myself included—are using the morning menu idea as an incentive to get out of bed. Honing in on a few self-care activities rather than trying to accomplish an entire daunting, hard-set list allows you to keep a healthy routine without pressure. Rather than dreading what I have to do in the morning, having a morning menu means doing things that actually help boost my mood while also keeping up with healthy habits. Not only do I look forward to my mornings now, but when I wake up in a funk or not feeling 100 percent, I also feel powerful knowing that I have the tools (my personal morning menu) to set me up for the best possible day and to be my best self.
How to Create Your Own Morning Menu
As Ribon explained in her TikTok, your morning menu should cater to what you enjoy and the things the best version of you does, so everyone’s morning menu may look different. Start by listing the activities that personally speak to you. Think beyond the non-negotiables, like brushing your teeth and unloading the dishwasher. For example, your list could include cooking, walking, reading, and listening to a podcast. You can switch up your morning menu every week as your needs and wants change, and place your menu somewhere you’re bound to see it first thing in the morning as a friendly reminder.
My Morning Menu
As a girlie who is very much in touch with her emotions and doesn’t bottle them up, I’ve tailored the morning menu to me even more. Instead of separating my list into the things I love to do and the things that make me the best version of myself, I was inspired by Inside Out to categorize my morning menu by the emotions I consistently feel in the morning that I need to get myself out of (anxiety or sadness), as well as an emotion I sometimes wake up with and want to multiply (joy). This way I can have a cheat sheet to quickly refer to to take care of my body and mind no matter what state I wake up in. Here’s what’s on my morning menu:
If I wake up with anxiety…
- Unplug till noon
- Do a sweaty cardio session
- Tidy up for 10 minutes
- Journal
- Ice roll
If I wake up feeling sad…
- Take a shower
- Make an extravagant breakfast
- Hot-girl-call-Mum-walk
- Make a gratitude list
- Do 30 minutes of yoga
- Recite affirmations
If I wake up feeling joyful…
- Read my favorite book
- Have a mini dance party
- Do a weight training session
- Practice piano
- Text three friends something nice
Bryanna Cuthill, Contributing Writer
Bryanna Cuthill is an NYC-based writer. Being a textbook hopeless romantic, she hopes to be the internet big sister she never had, encouraging everyone to be a boss while also taking the time to romanticize their life.