People assume I’m a morning person. I’m not.
I became one out of survival.

For years, our mornings looked like a scene from a horror movie—except no one was enjoying it. One kid couldn’t find their shoe, another was crying because their cereal “looked at them wrong,” the baby was screaming, and I was trying to function on three hours of sleep and a prayer.

Then one day — after a really hard time in life — I hit a wall.
Not the dramatic kind. The quiet kind. The “I can’t keep living like this” kind.

So I tried something ridiculous for me:
I woke up 20 minutes earlier.

And it changed everything.

🌿 The first slow morning

I remember sitting at the table before the kids woke up.
Just me. My coffee. Silence — actual silence.

When my oldest walked in, half-asleep, hair everywhere, he saw me and whispered, “You’re up already?”
But he smiled.
And for the first time in a long time, I had the bandwidth to smile back.

☕ The rituals we didn’t plan

Now every morning, my daughter sits next to me and steals half my toast like it’s owed to her. My son gives me a sleepy hug that lasts exactly three seconds because “that’s the rule.”
The baby toddles over and tries to put socks in the fridge. (We’re working on that.)

Nothing fancy. Nothing curated.
Just us — before the world rushes in.

📚 What slow actually means

It doesn’t mean everything is peaceful and perfect.
It means I’m not starting the day already drowning.

Slow mornings give me a second to choose patience before someone inevitably spills something.
They let the kids ease into the day instead of being catapulted into it.

And honestly?
Those first few minutes feel like the motherhood version of oxygen.

💛 The truth I learned

Home isn’t supposed to feel like a race.
And the way we start the day spills into everything that comes after.

Slow mornings didn’t make our life perfect — but they did make our home softer.

And sometimes, softer is exactly what a family needs.

With love,
Rochel

Mom of four from a family of eleven. I’ve survived loss, NICU nights, and everything in between — now I share honest, real-life parenting guidance.