They say mornings are the best time of the day. Even if you’re a night person more than a morning one, we all need reminders and a few tips that help give us the best start we can have for the day.

1. Get up!

Wake up, rise and shine! It’s a nice saying but seriously, some of us need a little help with the shining part. What wakes you? Are you blessed with a natural alarm, waking as the sun’s rays peak through your bedroom shades or when the early birds literally sings or squawks you a wake up tune. Do you just wake up, having your sleep fill, but at a reasonable hour because you’ve gone nigh nigh at a good hour the night before. Many of us need a decent volume of decibels to rouse us from our slumber. Are you the ‘tinker tink’ style of retro alarm, the submarine submerging siren style, even the deep African drum rhythm that gives your beating heart that flutter it needs for a kick-start. Rise you tribal queen you! Let us hear you yawn, ooops, sorry! Let us hear you roar!

You could actually be as creative as you like here. Setting the tone for your day with your favourite tune or chart topper down to your grannies classic might be the kick start for you. No snooze options we think are a good call. Throw the bed covers off and let the colder air help you with that progression to actually Get Up! Set your realistic wake up time and aim for your rise and shine then.

We should all get in at least one day, or more when its holidays, to be an alarm free day, let yourself dose and even sleep in. We all need and are meant to have our rest days, it can help give us a better start to our alarm days!!

2. What’s your talk?

Besides your alarm squawking or serenading, what do you actually say to yourself when you wake up? Every morning won’t be perfect but what’s a good morning to you? Why should it be a good morning? Well, why not? It can be a kick ass morning or even a let’s rock it morning. Speaking some positivity into your day when it starts can have a significant effect on how you perceive the rest of your day no matter what might be happening. Science backs this up as it is proven to affect your brain chemistry for the better. So give it a go. Set a bar that can help point you in the right direction for the next 24 hours and even beyond.

A big part of this might actually be putting down your phone and not doing your regular Facebook check, Messenger, Instagram or Snapchat scrawl. Latest studies indicate we’re comparing ourselves way too much and unnecessarily, and to things that don’t often show the real nuts and bolts of our lives. So start with what’s real and about your day, not someone else’s! Go Against The Flow, be aware, be strong and affirm that it’s going to be a kick-ass day!

3. Wee morning deposits

So you wake up and after all of that shining, swalking, serenading and brain re-wiring that can happen in the space of minutes – you need to pee! That morning gush, or trickle, may be a rush for some, but never the less a relief. Your bladder is full and needs to empty. If you do need to rush, just make it, or don’t, then you might need to think about your awareness of activating those pelvic floor muscles and checking out some of the Go Against The Flow information.

On another level, after you’ve done your business, all in the space of a minute or more, is to actually look at what you’ve done. What? That’s disgusting you say, but it came out of you, so that’s amazing in itself isn’t it? Getting familiar with the how it feels when you go, as well as the look and the smells of your deposits can help you work out what’s a regular thing for you and what’s not. The experts recommend that your pee should typically be the colour of straw – the hay bale style of straw. Even the colour of a lemon. If your pee is a dark yellow colour and has a strong smell, then that can be a strong indication that you haven’t drunk enough H20; you’re a little dehydrated. Alcohol, coffee, tea, medications and even some foods can affect the colour of your pee too. The best thing to understand is that it’s a good habit to have a peak at your business, get familiar and if it’s on the darker side you probably need to drink some sky juice! Remember, WATER IS BEST. Here’s a great chart to help you visualise it better.

4. Top up your fill

Queens of the hydration elect, ready your cups for a magnificent H20 cocktail!

Our body uses water in our cells, tissues and organs for regulating the who’s who of everything we do. These process are continuous, they happen when we are awake and when we are asleep. So it’s important to keep the processes flowing and replace what we use and lose by drinking enough. We all need a top up in the morning, even more so when you are thirsty and your pee peak shows it’s on the darker side!  So drink up. You’ll be giving your body that H2O perk up that it needs!

5. Stretch and move

If you sleep on your back, side, tummy, or curled up in some sort of weird contorted position, chances are we can wake up feeling a little stiff in some parts of our body. Having a stretch when we wake up can help loosen and get the blood flowing. Co-ordinate this with some yawning, sucking oxygen in to our lungs, and you’ve got another good kick-starter to your morning routine! Now at this point some of you might already be into the morning run, walk the dog, pilates/yoga class, morning cycle or the quick spurt run on the spot kind of girl. Fantastic! Go for it. Others might be into this for the afternoon or maybe, not at all? That’s your call. Just remember keeping active and just moving more, with some focused attention in the morning can help build some level of fitness that gives you more spark and resilience in your day and beyond that. Check out our #iworkout section for some great tips!

Now when we refer to exercise, we at Go Against The Flow, can’t let you go past getting some attention to your ‘Below the belt’ region. Getting in a pelvic floor workout for your morning is a habit that will keep you on the right track for the rest of your life girls. So get aware and take control down there. Check out Go Against The Flow for more information about the how to of your pelvic floor #iworkout

6. The best meal of the day – really!!!!

A kick ass kick-starter is giving your body the energy it needs to power you up for the next few hours and more. Walking out the door without food in your belly not only gives you those tummy grumble hunger pangs, which you know is your body telling you to eat, but a sluggish style girl! You’re cramping your Queen vibes if you do.

Think about putting food in your body like its fuel, you want to put the best in their so it runs smooth, sassy and with a little spark. We all admit some mornings a just a little crap, you haven’t slept well, its shark day (period day), or you’ve just had a late one with the start of the party season.  They say breakfast is the best meal of the day, science proves it. So don’t skimp on yourselves. Foods high in fibre are great for helping you feel full longer, your gut health and helping you have regular ‘OMG I pooped today’ action. Porridge, smoothie bowls and wholegrain toast with smashed avo are but a few good choices to chow down on for your morning.

7. When your rear makes it clear

Now by this stage, if it hasn’t been before breakfast, you might be having some action now, the pooping type that is! Remember you open your bowels anywhere between 3 times a day, to 3 times a week. Anything else, you might need some help!

Your deposits from your rear make themselves very clear when they’re coming. Getting up, moving about, eating, having a warm drink all help to move what’s in your bowel out and in to the bathroom throne. When you get the urge to go, no matter if you have to get out the door, or something else grabs your attention, it’s important to go. If you hold on, and keep putting it off, for whatever reason, you can make yourself constipated, as your poop just dries out sitting there. Now this cramps your rise and shine mojo for sure, as you can get really uncomfortable.

Don’t curb the urge!

8. Squeaky clean

Brush your pearly whites in the morning? Of course!!! Are you a before or after breakfast brusher? No matter when, foul morning breath and food build-up you know need to go. It’s the polished shining formula. The obvious fresh breath wins hands down!  A fresh bod does too. Even if you like a shower at night rather than the morning, or even if you do both, a morning freshen and spruce up you know makes you feel and look good – no bed hair on you baby! Paint your face as you do and Wahla, beautiful!

See yourself in the mirror and power your start up even more with a reminder of how amazing you are. You’re looking good. Rock your rise and shine girl. Not another one in the world like you. No odds on that!

9. Tick

Whether you’re out the door or home doing stuff it’s often good to have reminders or a little plan of what’s on for the day. Study plans, friend plans, errand plans, party plans or adventure plans, are all thoughts given to the must dos and the want to’s for your day. You know that prioritising these things can help you with focus and curb potential time wasters. A little spontaneity and fun should be involved but kick-starting your day with some clear vision can help you power up with some sharper direction.

10. Same, same but different!

Always be mindful of others that are in your day too. Never shut people or the world out. Remember it’s more than just about you. You’re born to be in relationship with others and this is way more than any of your Social Media accounts. We’re not meant to do this life alone. So in your power up for the day, pass on some energy to others that might need it, you might be surprised at the difference you make. Your friends, your family, the old dear of a neighbour down the street, even the check-out attendant at your local supermarket. Words that add life to your own can add spark to the lives of others.

Your days may be a bit of the ‘same same, but different’ more often than not. We know, but why not just put a bit more shine on that different each morning! If you’re not already doing at least some of these things, be mindful that they’re simple kick-starter habits. They can definitely help power up your day giving you the best start you can have. Rise, shine, be aware, be strong and be empowered. Go Against the Flow girls!