THE EDIT

How To Romanticise Your Mornings.

Without waking up at 5 AM or becoming a person who journals.

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I like mornings.

Not necessarily the kind of mornings the internet seems particularly interested in. I don’t wake up at 5 AM, meditate for twenty minutes, go for a run at sunrise and return home to make a smoothie bowl containing seventeen ingredients.

Actually, I have gone running at 6 AM before.

And while I always feel amazing afterwards, my first thought when the alarm goes off is usually less this is so good for me and more:

Fuck. Do I actually have to go?

I think we may have slightly overcomplicated the idea of romanticising our lives.

Because to me, a nice morning isn’t about creating an entirely new routine.

It’s about making the one you already have a little nicer.

AI-generated editorial image inspired by the featured collection. Product details may differ from the actual items

I Like Being Slightly Ahead Of The Day.

Even when I can sleep in, I usually like getting up around 7:30.

There is something I love about being awake before I really need to be. Not ridiculously early. Just early enough that the morning doesn’t immediately feel like something I have to catch up with.

I almost never snooze. Once I’m awake, I’m awake.

I check my phone — because this is not an article in which I pretend I don’t — and then I get straight into the shower.

Getting completely ready first thing makes me feel fresh. Shower, nice shower foam, clothes, the whole thing. I don’t particularly want to spend the first three hours of my day slowly transforming from duvet into human.

And then: coffee.

Obviously.

The Coffee Tastes Better In The Right Glass.

I have a favourite glass for my coffee.

I drink it with a metal straw.

Does the metal straw objectively improve the coffee?

Probably not.

Does the coffee taste better to me because I’ve decided this is the correct way to drink it?

Absolutely.

I feel the same way about plates, mugs, glasses and pretty much everything else you can put food or drinks in.

Dinner feels nicer on beautiful plates. Coffee feels better in a cup you love. And I will never understand people who drink wine from a normal drinking glass.

Where is the fun in that?

Maybe that’s why I like beautiful tableware so much. It asks almost nothing from you, but somehow makes an ordinary thing feel slightly more intentional.

You were going to drink the coffee anyway.

You might as well like the glass.

My Kitchen Smells Like Apple Pie At 8 AM.

I used to skip breakfast quite often.

Now I actually make time for it.

My current favourite involves putting apple and cinnamon in a little pan until the entire house starts smelling suspiciously like someone is baking an apple pie.

Then it goes on yoghurt with granola.

I make an iced coffee. Drink an unreasonable amount of water. Take my vitamins.

And, very importantly, dance around the kitchen while I’m making it.

I often end up eating the whole thing on the sofa, so this isn’t exactly a beautifully styled breakfast-table situation.

But that’s sort of the point.

Romanticising your morning doesn’t require pretending your life is something it isn’t.

Sometimes it’s just making the breakfast you actually want to eat.

THE MORNING EDIT

Same Breakfast. Better Bowl.

Because apparently yoghurt tastes better when the bowl has good stripes.

This is also why I love the striped Design Letters collection.

It’s simple, but not boring. Scandinavian, but playful. The kind of tableware that makes yoghurt and coffee on a random weekday morning look like you made slightly more effort than you actually did.

Which is basically my favourite category of effort.

There is something nice about using beautiful things for completely ordinary moments.

We tend to save things.

The nice glasses for guests. The nice plates for dinner. The candle for when the house is clean. The expensive shower gel for… apparently some future shower more deserving than Tuesday morning.

I don’t really see the point.

If you already own the nice thing, use it.

Especially on Tuesday.

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Romanticising Your Life Shouldn’t Become Another Job.

There is a version of the perfect morning online that looks exhausting.

Wake up at 5:30.

Journal.

Run 10K.

Make a smoothie bowl.

Read ten pages.

Meditate.

Do skincare.

Drink something green.

Watch the sunrise while apparently having no emails to answer whatsoever.

And sure, some of those things can feel amazing.

But if your attempt to romanticise your morning requires a seventeen-step routine you secretly hate, I’m not entirely sure we’re romanticising anything anymore.

I’ve woken up at 6 AM to run.

I’m always incredibly happy that I went.

I’m also capable of admitting that when I first open my eyes, I think it is a terrible idea.

Both can be true.

I Prefer The 10% Rule.

I don’t think every morning needs to become an event.

I just want mine to feel maybe 10% nicer.

Make the bed.

Put your favourite cuddly toy back where it belongs.

Open the curtains and stand in the sun for a second.

Use the shower gel that smells really good.

Make an iced coffee instead of drinking a black coffee you don’t particularly want.

Put the apple and cinnamon in the pan.

Turn some music on.

Dance while you’re waiting.

Light a candle while you’re getting ready.

None of these things fundamentally change your day.

That’s exactly why I like them.

Sometimes I Leave Earlier Just So I Can Walk.

One of my favourite morning rituals is incredibly inefficient.

If I have somewhere to go, sometimes I’ll leave earlier so I can walk instead of cycling.

Cycling would be faster.

Walking gets me to exactly the same place.

But I like not having to rush. I like being outside. I like having that bit of time between being at home and wherever I’m supposed to be next.

So I deliberately make the journey longer.

I think younger me would have found that unnecessary.

Now I think unnecessary might be one of my favourite things.

Not everything has to be optimized.

Sometimes the slower option is the better one simply because you enjoy being there.

So, How Do You Romanticise A Morning?

Not by becoming a completely different person.

Start with the morning you already have.

Make your bed.

Open the curtains.

Put on the music.

Use the good shower gel.

Make something that makes the kitchen smell nice.

Drink your coffee from the glass you inexplicably believe makes it taste better.

Use the pretty bowl.

Walk instead of cycling if you have the time.

Sit outside in the sun with your coffee whenever the weather allows it.

And if you want to eat breakfast on the sofa afterwards?

Please do.

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And tomorrow morning, I will probably be in my kitchen at 8 AM, dancing while frying apples with cinnamon.

Which feels like a perfectly good place to start.

MORE PERSONALITY, PLEASE.