Do you have any little rituals/things you do just for you, that you really enjoy?

[lucysmam]

I meant to ask this yesterday, but then got sidetracked by baking stollen, making pastry, and making cranberry sauce for Christmas 😋

My favourite ritual of the week is my weekend morning silent cuppa. I like to sit in my spot, in the kitchen, with the first cuppa of the day & just chill for an hour in silence. Sometimes I'll even make a second cup, or a cup of coffee. It's bliss, just being while everyone here's sleeping & the outside world is just starting to get going 😊

I like to watch the world go by through the windows (at least, what I can see of the world!). This weekend's highlight was the robin flitting from branch to branch in the huge trees at the bottom of my garden.

What about you?

*LONG dog walk

I see DH off to work, DS off to school then sit quietly with a cup of tea and do the crossword in our daily newspaper.

userxx my favourite is Madeline vlog on YouTube

she is really sweet and easy to watch
I also like Hermione Chantal (though she doesn’t really do as many home ones now)

also Laura Melhuish sprague (spelling) and Ellie Polly

The Mummy Vlogger is also a great one to get you motivated - she’s is literally a powerhouse though I love cleaning and organising but she makes me look like a lazy bones 😂

I have 5 DC, youngest being one year old twins so not much time at the moment but I do look forward to my morning cup of tea and nature valley bar for breakfast after the school run. After the kid are all in bed and if DH has gone up early I love to sit in complete silence and read mumsnet, the silence is so refreshing, I often don’t realise how the din of the day impacts and the lovely quiet resets me nicely before bed.

I get on a bus to work every day. Wednesday and Thursday I'm the first on and get the front seat of the double decker upstairs. And as the bus travels I watch the sun rise. It's beautiful and it's probably the only hour of a day that I don't at least glance at my phone ( my issue- I'm a workaholic Instagram happy tech addict) but to watch that sunrise (rain as well- the sky changes and the clouds move) I sit and enjoy it. It makes me unreasonably angry when someone occupies the other front seat / best seat and spends their entire journey head buried in phone. Why take the beautiful view seat ?! You could sit anywhere and enjoy your phone!

On Saturday mornings, I pack DC off to their dad's and go back to bed until about 2pm. Then I get up, go to the supermarket, buy a shit ton of treats and booze (and the weekly shop: boring).

I then have a feast of treats, get pissed, listen to my favourite podcasts and songs LOUD while having a hike/run and then clean the house. I end up going to bed around 9pm on a sat and waking up to a sparkling clean house on a Sunday. I get the kids back at lunch time pretending I'm a decent parent not a piss head.

I fucking love this routine and absolutely HATE having to socialise on a sat or a sunday and disrupt it. Happens more often than not :(

A disgraceful addition to your wholesome thread....sorry!

At the moment it is to light a smelly candle, get in a hot bath and watch the handmaids tale on my laptop. Then I get into bed, put my headphones in and listen to the week's episode rundown on the Eyes on Gilead podcast. I have a young baby so this is my current version of a book club! I'll be sad when the series ends!! Even though it's dark I love all the nuances

You get pissed whilst running? That is impressive!

You do the workout after your shower?

I have a day off work during the week, which is my favourite. DP is at work, and I usually wake up about 10 with the cat snuggled into me. I get up, make a cup of tea, and bring it back to bed, then spend an hour or so catching up on websites, TikTok etc with a purring cat at my feet. If I don’t have anything on in the day I make myself a nice brunch, do my nails, then have a bath in the afternoon.

Yes! I get up before anyone else, fill the birdfeeders then make fresh coffee with hot frothy milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon, then drink it as I watch the birds come in to feed. Love the start to the day.

Wow some of these mornings are inspiring. My DD wakes up 5-6am, so I get up when she does, drink 2 cups of very strong sweet coffee until she falls asleep again then try and do as much washing up/ cleaning/ painting (walls) I can do before she wakes up again.

Mine is makeup. I like trying out different looks. Even if I'm pushed for time I'll do basic makeup in the morning. It doesn't matter if I'm going out or not, it's not about other people or thinking I look awful or anything like that. It's a little bit of time just for me and sets me up for the day ahead. It's something that makes me smile.

15 mins with a cup of tea in the morning just to sort of wake up
Always listen to music when I shower or do my makeup
Slightly odd one but every time I food shop I pick something I've never tried before, often from the world food aisle. It's like a reward for going

Snap!@ICouldHaveCheckedFirst and @WeeMadArthur1 . Always with coffee too.

@determinedtomakethiswork
Yes shower before workout - I need the energy from the cappuccino to do the workout but I have to have a cup of tea first. My DH also has to be factored in as he gets up at 6am and has a coffee - we’d be fighting for bathroom time if I did it the other way round (he goes in shower at 6.15 which is when I come out and do my workout. I’m not really a sweat person and my weights are only 4kg each.

I’m loving reading all these, I’ve got some inspo.

My routine before I had my baby was: wake up, journal (writing 3 pages in A4 notepad), 10 min meditation , wordle, exercise, protein shake/breakfast, shower.

looking forward to seeing how my routine will adapt now I have a DS.

I never could get an evening routine on the go but I may try that instead

I usually wake up in pain so I have to take pills.

I switch my computer on, I have two monitors, I put YouTube on one and on the other check finances, mumsnet and maybe do some uni work while the pills kick in .

I get a coffee and the cat jumps up and goes to sleep on me.

I'm self-employed and I was trying to not work on a Friday, but I find it easier to fit fewer hours into more days than more hours into fewer days, so now on a Friday morning, I go and have breakfast in my favourite café where I know the staff and take my laptop and work, for some reason it doesn't feel like working when I'm there. I then finish at lunchtime and my weekend starts.

I often take myself off to the pub up the road for an overpriced large glass of sauvignon with a book/ebook on my 'phone and sit by the fire. Not as healthy as half of these but makes me feel good

I love reading all these rituals/self care routines.
Especially at this time of year so many of us are running on empty, trying to juggle christmas/work/family.
It is easy to lose sight of yourself.
These rituals remind us we are living just one life and easing our own way must be priority.
Women especially are often taught to put themselves last, to self sacrifice, even that taking time for ourselves is selfish.
If we are lucky our mothers have encouraged us to have self worth, recognise our own needs- but many of us missed out on that and had to discover it for ourselves.
Even now my own mother will make sharp comments to me.
"Reading a book? Us mothers never had time to read books when we were younger", or to others- " Look at her red shoes- who does she think she is!"
It has taken me years of work to rise above that early conditioning and I rather like being the most important person in my own life. It has been a love affair.
I had therapy earlier this year, and we were talking about meditation- which she strongly encourages.
She said " We should aim to do 10 minutes of meditation a day- except when we are really busy. Then we should do half an hour".

I totally agree with this @speakout
I’m sorry your Mum isn’t very supportive - mine neither. It actually spurs me on to look after myself more.

Like you OP I get up early for a coffee by myself. I do journalling then and it helps me get the most I can out of the day. When I get time I go to my favourite cafe - in a lovely spot - for a coffee and cake and then have a walk nearby. Love all these on the thread though and am going to use it as inspiration.

Mine is an evening one. I light a scented candle while I wash my face, moisturise and floss. Sounds daft but I kept on skipping flossing as it's boring but if I light a candle I never skip it. And my gums feel better too.