How to Reset When Your Morning is Trash
Keep reading this post to learn:
⋒ How your morning mindset really can carry on throughout your day
⋒ Using my RESET framework for when your mornings don’t go as planned
⋒ Why to implement HS5 (especially when your mornings are trash)
Y’all have heard me say many times that I’m a big believer that our mornings set the tone for our days – and that still holds up. I think that when we start our days doing some mental health hygeine, filling our cups that we set ourselves up to have a better day since it puts us in a good headspace. You know it’s like the whole an object in motion stays in motion thing – a solid morning creates momentum for a solid day a lot of the time.
However, some mornings, let’s be honest… stuff hits the fan.
Maybe you oversleep, so you don’t have time for your normal morning routine and you spill coffee on your white shirt on your way to work…which you’re now running late for because of course there’s a traffic jam today of all days.
Get to class only to realize you left your laptop at your apartment.
Your sweet baby decides to wake up at 4:30 to get their day started…which means you do, too.
While I do believe that a good morning creates momentum for a good day, I don’t think that a crappy morning has to mean a crappy day if you don’t want it to.
One of my favorite sayings is “you give life to what you give energy to” – so what I like to do if I have a less-than-ideal morning, is reset so I can reclaim the day by redirecting what I’m giving my energy to.
Y’all have probably figured this out about me – I love a good framework – that makes it easy to teach others concepts that work for me! So as I was preparing for this episode, I was reflecting to see what I do when I have a trash morning.
And I came up with an acronym – R.E.S.E.T. – to help me explain how I reset when my morning sucks. Or honestly, if any point of the day feels like trash, this is what I do to reset. Because you don’t have to wait until the next day to reset – you are allowed and capable of resetting whenever you need it. Each moment is an opportunity to show up how you want to.
But for the sake of this episode, I’m gonna stick with how to reset when your morning is trash.
I’m gonna fill you in on the R.E.S.E.T. acronym and then we’ll break down each part, sound good?
But there’s a little side note – the first step is actually the T in reset, not the r – and then we work our way up but T.E.S.E.R. isn’t as catchy as R.E.S.E.T. so I’m calling it R.E.S.E.T. even though we’re doing it backwards.
Take a brain break
Explore how you’re feeling
Step out for fresh air
Eat
Refresh your daily vision and begin again
The cool thing about this framework is that it’s moldable – you can spend 5 minutes doing the whole thing or if you have an hour to dedicate to a mid-morning reset then you go on with it.
I’m gonna break down each letter of the acronym and because I know the Hustle Sanely community appreciates a concrete example, I’m gonna give you some ideas for what doing each part of the R.E.S.E.T. acronym could look like, cool?
Take a brain break:
One of the biggest mistakes that I think someone can make if they’re having a crappy morning is trying to power through without pausing.
A pause in itself is a reset.
When we pause, I imagine our brains high-fiving us because usually when the morning is crap, our brains feel like they’re running on a treadmill…and not in a good way – lots of moving but not really getting anywhere.
I know for me, when I’m in a bad mood from things feeling chaotic, plowing ahead makes things feel way worse. I need a moment to remove myself from whatever annoying thing is happening in order to not let it affect the rest of my day.
A brain break means you’re not trying to make work what isn’t working in the moment. You step away from the situation and give your brain a break from what’s happening so you can come back with a clearer mind and fresh perspective.
A lot of times for me, things feel really big and overwhelming in the moment but if I take a brain break, when I come back, I’m like “oh okay this isn’t really that big of a deal.”
Taking a brain break could look like:
~ Calling a friend
~ Reading a chapter of your book
~ Listening to your favorite song
When you think brain break, think choosing something else to focus on for a few minutes to give your brain a break from whatever tough thing you were experiencing.
Explore how you’re feeling:
A lot of the time, naming a feeling lessens the hold that it has on you. Like if you take a second to process what is happening and how it’s making you feel, it puts the power back in your hands. Your feelings are valid, but they are not the boss of how you behave.
So get to the root – what’s up? What are you feeling? Why are you feeling it? What can you control right now? What can’t you control?
Exploring how you’re feeling could look like:
~ Journaling through those questions I just said
~ Mentally saying, “I’m feeling __________ right now because of ______________.”
~ If you’re with someone and you want them to give you a sec, saying out loud, “hey, I’m feeling ____________ right now. I’m gonna take a minute to reset.”
Step out for fresh air:
I feel like no one can argue with me saying that fresh air is good for our mental health. I remember a few times when Everly was a newborn and crying and I tried all the things – feeding her, changing her, burping her, whatever and she still was crying, I would open our back door and just step on the back patio with her and we’d both calm down.
I’ve shared this stat before on the show but it fits here too so I’m sharing it again.
Studies show that levels of anxiety and stress are reduced by being outdoors. When you are outside, the fresh air can help raise oxygen levels in your brain, which increases serotonin levels. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that alters your mood. Aka getting some fresh air is a simple way to improve your mood.
And it’s fast and free – we love that.
Stepping out for fresh air could look like:
~ Taking a 5-minute walk or even a walk to the mailbox and back
~ Stepping outside of your office and taking 3 deep breaths
~ Stepping outside and saying 3 things you’re grateful for in that moment
Eat:
And coffee doesn’t count – I’m saying to grab something that nourishes you. Y’all, I looked it up before recording this episode and there is scientific evidence that backs being hangry, believe it or not – it’s a valid thing!
An article form Pedimont.org says this:
"One of the symptoms of low blood sugar is being irritable and having anxiety," says Ellen Poindexter, a diabetes educator at Piedmont Fayette. "There is not enough glucose getting to the brain when your blood sugar is low."
Brain function may decrease. Your concentration and patience can decline. The brain sends signals to organs to release hormones, including adrenaline, which triggers our "fight or flight" response. This makes you more likely to feel grumpy or aggressive.
When I’m having a trash morning or trash moment, it becomes 10 times worse when I have an empty stomach.
Like give me a nourishing snack and some fresh air for a minute and I can usually come back and conquer the world.
Some ideas for nourishing things you can eat quickly:
~ Greek yogurt with some berries
~ Hummus with carrots and cucumbers
~ Pretzels with peanut butter
~ A handful of mixed nuts
~ Turkey and cheese rollups with mustard
These are some of my go-to snack ideas that I grab when I can feel the hanger taking over. They’re super easy to keep around your office or in your home and take minimal prep. I try to choose snacks that are high in protein and/or healthy fats and that won’t give me a sugar crash an hour later.
Refresh your daily vision and begin again:
Okay so when I say to refresh your daily vision and begin again, I’m talking directly about Hustle Sanely 5 – if you’re new around here, let me give you a quickie little rundown of what HS5 is and then I’ll explain what I mean by using it to refresh your daily vision.
Think of Hustle Sanely 5™ (HS5) as daily action steps for how to live a peacefully productive life. HS5 is a list of 5 intentional habits that the Hustle Sanely community does every day to help us release overwhelm and focus our best time & energy on things that align with our goals so we make consistent progress while taking care of ourselves and our people.
The 5 habits that make up HS5 are:
01: Complete your Focus 3 (the 3 most important tasks on your to-do list for the day).
02: Move for 30 minutes.
03: Tidy for 15 minutes.
04: Say or do one kind thing for yourself.
05: Say or do one kind thing for someone else.
HS5 is another framework that is moldable – you can make it work for you, no matter what season of life you’re in. I’m the creator of HS5 but you’re in charge of how you use HS5 in your life.
So back to refreshing your daily vision – maybe after having a crappy morning, you need to change up your HS5 for the day.
Maybe your kind thing for yourself is now stopping at your local coffee shop to get a snack and a cozy drink because you know it’ll make you feel better after a tough morning.
Maybe your Focus 3 needs to be different now.
So for example, if your kid puked on his shoes on the way out the door, one of your Focus 3 is probably now going to be to take him to the doctor or get him in bed to rest.
HS5 meets you where you’re at. 🫶🏻
Refreshing your vision could look like:
~ Grabbing your Peacefully Productive Planner and some whiteout and re-mapping out your HS5 for the day
And that, my friends, is how you can reset if your morning is trash.
To recap:
Take a brain break
Explore how you’re feeling
Step out for fresh air
Eat
Refresh your daily vision and begin again
It’s straightforward, it’s simple, and 9/10 times, it works. And for the 1/10 times that it doesn’t, remember that you’re a human and sometimes when things go awry in the morning, we’re grumpy and we do let it ruin our day. I think it’s important to remember that life isn’t perfect and it never will be – all we can do is focus on showing up as the healthiest versions of ourselves and creating lives that feel peacefully productive to us, you know?
It’s Planner Season!
In case you missed it, our 2024 Paper Collection is HERE! You can now purchase your favorite Hustle Sanely paper products!
Loved this blog post? Tune into the full podcast episode below!
