How to Survive A Stressful Morning

Ugh, Monday. Definitely not my favorite day of the week. For some reason, even if I get enough sleep Sunday night, it is a hardship to get out of bed on Monday, and I always find myself scrambling to get ready. How can you deal with such a busy morning? Follow some tried and true tips from the queen of stress herself.

1. Try and lay out your clothes the night before. Everyone says it, but I'm not sure how well it works for people seeing that I have the "luxury" of a uniform.

Oh, how I love my plaid kilt!




2. Learn to master the five minute face. A quick skincare/makeup routine will give off the look of a girl who has it all together even if you don't.

Even out your skin-tone with a tinted moisturizer. Invest in a  good concealer for under eye bags and dust a little powder over your face to lock the look in place. Apply some bronzer/blush and a bit of mascara to make you look awake. This should seriously only take five minutes or less unless you have temperamental or complicated skin like I do. If you have an extra second you can apply lipgloss or eyeliner.

3. Do your hair at night. A lot of the time, I find myself lost as far as what to do with my hair in the morning. I have learned to wash it at night to jump start the styling process. I blow dry or straighten it at night, or to achieve a cute or more put together variation on my hair's natural texture, I curl it. But not just in your "I'm about to do my entire head of hair up in rollers and it's going to hurt all night while I sleep but beauty is pain" kind of curling. Oh no. I blow dry my hair (first, I put in a spray to protect it from heat damage) and then put hot rollers in. I leave them in for approximately fifteen minutes until the rollers get cold. I am left with ridiculous, tight, crazy looking curls. Then I go to sleep. By the morning the curls are much more relaxed and I apply pomade or finishing creme to reduce flyaways. It actually turns out pretty natural looking or at least a bit more so than a curling iron.

4. Don't take a zero hour. I always thought I was a morning person until I took a zero hour. If you're high school offers early classes but you're dying from sleep deprivation (as many teens are, myself included, from overbooking themselves in activities and going crazy in pursuit of perfection) don't take them. I learned the hard way.

5. Go for portable breakfast. Eating breakfast is definitely a necessity for everyone in order to keep up energy and kick-start a day. If you're in a crunch and just can't find time, try granola bars, oatmeal bars, cereal bars, a bagel, basically anything portable that can be eaten as you walk out the door, as long as it's healthy. Let's get real--a sugar crash is definitely not going to de-stress your morning.

Yum!



6. Keep a schedule. I believe the key to de-stressing is having and sticking to a set routine and a schedule. I've saved myself from countless breakdowns this way. A set schedule keeps me on task throughout the morning and entire day so that I never miss an activity or forget an event.

A planner like this one is a great place to keep your schedule.




Good luck and I hope some of these tips prove helpful in de-stressing your morning routines!

photos

xoxo Elise