A few years ago, mornings in our house felt chaotic and rushed most days. I’d wake up with my head spinning through a million things before I’d even got up - breakfast, school uniform, dog walking, lunches, work stuff, permission slips, the whole lot.

I’d look at other mums who seemed so calm and put together and honestly wonder what I was doing wrong. Because most mornings for me were just a frantic rush. I was nagging, forgetting things, losing my patience and starting work already drained.

I thought the solution was simple: just try harder. Be more organised, wake up earlier, be more disciplined. Do more, basically.

But eventually I realised I wasn’t failing because I wasn’t trying hard enough. The real problem was that I was carrying everything in my head with no proper systems to help.

So instead of trying to build some perfect morning routine, I started making small, realistic changes that made life less

stressful for us. Little evening resets, gentler mornings, fewer decisions and more preparation for the stressed version of me at 7am.

It didn’t happen overnight and it still isn’t perfect. But slowly things got better. Monday mornings stopped feeling like survival mode. I could actually drink my coffee while it was still warm, my daughter knows what she’s doing, the dog is walked and I’m not leaving the house already drowning in guilt and chaos.