From Snooze Queen to morning routine: How I started my self glow-up

Years ago, I felt this pull for more. I loved being a mom, I was proud of my work as a teacher—but deep down, I wanted to evolve. I wanted to feel aligned, lit up, and more than the roles I had spent years fulfilling. That’s when I started what I now call my self glow-up journey. I read the books, listened to the podcasts, and soaked up all the inspiration I could find. But while the advice was endless, I kept hitting the same wall: where was I supposed to start?

There were so many habits I wanted to build—journaling, moving my body, creating time for stillness—but I couldn’t figure out how to fit any of it in. At the time, I was out the door by 6:30 a.m. every day. Mornings were chaos. I was tired, always rushing, and well into my 30s, still the kind of person who hit snooze five times before getting up. The idea of fitting in anything “extra” felt impossible.

But the one thing I knew I needed more of was time. Not hours. Just enough space to feel like I was starting my day from intention instead of anxiety. So I challenged myself to wake up just thirty minutes earlier. That was it. That was the first shift. And yes—it was hard at first. It meant I couldn’t spend 30 minutes playing the snooze game anymore, which had become my morning ritual.

Then, on a work trip, I came across the book Thrive by Arianna Huffington. One piece of advice stuck with me: don’t sleep next to your phone. So that night, I plugged my phone into the bathroom instead of keeping it by my bed. It still served as my alarm, but now I had to physically get up to turn it off. And sure, at first, I’d get up, turn it off… and crawl right back into bed. But something had shifted. I had taken control of one small piece of my routine.

Soon after, I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, and everything clicked. One of the biggest takeaways for me was the idea that we don’t rise to the level of our goals—we fall to the level of our systems. And more importantly, we become the type of person we believe we are. So I stopped trying to “stop hitting snooze” and started becoming the woman who wakes up with her first alarm. I wrote that down. I affirmed it. I practiced it.

Was it perfect? Not even close. But it was consistent. And that consistency created momentum. It wasn’t about the thirty minutes anymore. It was about who I was becoming with those thirty minutes—someone who put herself first, even in the smallest ways.

This was just the beginning. That one shift led to more time for journaling, movement, stillness, and vision. It led to the version of me writing this now. I’ll share how I’ve evolved my mornings in the next post—but if you’re feeling overwhelmed about where to begin, maybe start where I did. Thirty minutes. One habit. One belief: you can become her.