6 Morning Habits That Seem Healthy But Are Secretly Stressing You Out
By Seraphina Seow | 05/21/2021 05:45am EDT | Huffpost.com
While these morning habits can be beneficial for your energy and mood, they may cause anxiety if you’re not careful.
In the productivity guru and influencer world, how people “do” their mornings are often a focus. To start your day right, you should eat this way and not that way. To be more productive, do this, not that.
Commonly recommended morning practices ― like exercising or journaling ― can be helpful and healthy. “But if we get too rigid about certain rituals in our day, that’s when they can become more toxic,” said Han Ren, a licensed psychologist, speaker and educator based in Austin.
When you put contingencies around what your morning “should” look like, this can make you anxious about doing everything perfectly ― then anxious if things don’t go as planned. Even healthy habits can stress you out if you feel you “must” do them for your day to start well.
This stress can be more pronounced if you’re a perfectionist. If you don’t achieve these self-imposed expectations, you can end up feeling like a failure or feeling like you haven’t done enough, said Athina Danilo, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Burbank, California.
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