Getting up before the kids is a necessity for me. I need to at least be able to pee, wash my hands, and brush my teeth before I can greet little sleepyheads with any sort of grace. As an introvert that bit of quiet is a wonderful balm to my soul before the day starts.

Recently however, I have noticed that them waking up annoys me. After some soul searching, the reason has become clear. Those quiet moments are not as peaceful as they should be. I have been on YouTube, or scrolling through Google’s homepage first thing in the morning. That does not qualify as peaceful.

Therefore, this week’s self-care habit is waking up before the kids, and for those of us who already do that, getting something useful accomplished. The something useful may change from day to day as I zero in on what works best for me in this season, but things I would like to try are:

• Working on my business

• Practicing Italian on my language learning app

• Getting some laundry done

• Batch cooking for easier dinners

• Devotions/prayer

• Reading one of the business books that I have stacked up on my Kindle and paperback

Doing one or two of these a day in the quiet before the kids are up will not only get something accomplished, it will help make my goals a reality. I have noticed that I parent much better when part of my brain is not telling me all the things I could be doing if I wasn’t interacting with this small human wanting my attention. Getting even one of those items off my daily to do list before shepherding my little lovelies through their own morning routines would help me be more in the moment.

Since my brain loves to think it can and should multi-task, things may actually go better if I throw a load of laundry on and then do a couple language lessons. Perhaps another day I could put some beans on to cook before sitting down to read that day’s page of Your Big Leap Year and doing the homework in peace. And yet another day I can throw some meat in the oven low and slow and then start working on a blog post.

For us females not every day of the month is the same, so if it’s a low energy day just getting a load of laundry through the washer and into the dryer can count as my accomplishment. Doing some social media work while half watching a favorite show would be comfortable forward motion. It’s better than feeling like the entire day was spent just spent surviving, right?

How much time do you make for yourself in the mornings, and are you accomplishing things that you feel improve your life?

If you aren’t quite where you want to be with self-care, consider joining along. Slow, steady progress seems to stick better than trying to do everything all at once.

And remember, if mama isn’t at 100% she can’t give 100%.