Can Your Morning Routine Make You a Better Person?
- Words by Peppermint
Embracing a daily routine doesn’t have to involve waking up at 2.30am and eating three turkey burgers for second breakfast (looking at you Mark Wahlberg). The smallest of things – like making your bed or walking to your local cafe to grab a coffee – can cement a positive mindset when it feels like the rest of your world is coming unstuck.
Here, as part of a partnership with our friends at Allpress, we chat with Dr Rebecca Ray about the power of routines to learn whether our morning coffees are actually making us better people.
“Daily routines provide structure and predictability in an uncertain world,” clinical psychologist Dr Rebecca Ray shares. “They are intentional actions we carry out in a sequence that feed our brain’s love of knowing what comes next. Assuming the daily routines are self-supporting and healthy, they help us cultivate mental wellness because they calm the limbic (fear) system in the brain which helps to lower anxiety and stress and create a sense of groundedness.”
READ MORE: FILL YOUR CUP – THE SALT MILL
Whether you have one thing you always do (like getting an iced latte on oat milk) or have an entire 12-step routine, starting off the day with some type of ritual that helps you feel more grounded can help set the tone for the rest of the day. It’s why for so many of us, the local cafe isn’t just a source of essential caffeine – it’s a daily dose of connection as well.
The local cafe isn’t just a source of essential caffeine – it’s a daily dose of connection as well.
At the most basic level, we need habits in order to cope. Ensuring you feel part of your local community can take it one step further, raising your spirits and filling your cup. This repetition builds our trust and, in turn, builds a world around us. “Habits occur at a largely unconscious and automatic level,” Rebecca explains. “They become so ingrained in our actions that we can do them without much conscious effort at all. Routines are more intentional and driven by conscious choices we make across a series of actions in sequence.”
Furthermore, things as simple as making our bed or walking to the coffee shop every morning can actually help our productivity and feelings of self-worth. “Small actions like these trip the dopamine switch in our brains – the neurochemical in our brains that gives a sense of reward, pleasure and motivation to repeat the action again because it feels good,” Rebecca says. “Little routines like making the bed, having a shower and going for a walk are self-supporting and, therefore, give a big dopamine hit. Do these things in the morning and you’ll strengthen your willpower for the rest of the day for whatever you need to do or achieve. Having a series of self-supporting routines in your day also helps to solidify your relationship with yourself, and therefore, your sense of worthiness, because you are living in alignment with values that respect and care for you. They also build self-trust, in that you are doing the things you say you want to do. It’s one thing to think about the routines you wish you did in a day, and quite another thing to actually do them. Brains respond to evidence!”
Having a series of self-supporting routines in your day also helps to solidify your relationship with yourself, and therefore, your sense of worthiness, because you are living in alignment with values that respect and care for you.
An ideal morning looks different for everyone, and there isn’t one single formula for a successful routine (although we would argue that a coffee always helps). Since there are so many different ways to start your day, the key is figuring out what works for you. Rebecca has three top tips for incorporating healthy routines into our daily lives:
READ MORE: THE DAILY RHYTHM // HARVEST
“Start small. This uses what psychologists call the science of small wins. Create a tiny action that can give you a small, quick win and then once this is easy, add another action to the sequence.
Next, reduce the chance that decision paralysis (the overwhelm caused by too many options) might derail you by planning ahead. Trying to eat well? Plan the next day’s meals the night before so you don’t have to decide what it is that you’ll eat when you’re starving at each meal time.
And finally, make it workable. Don’t expect yourself to go for a swim at the local pool at seven in the morning if the demands of your kiddos’ morning readiness for school mean that you’ll be stressed, overwhelmed and maybe end up late. This negatively reinforces your brain who will then mark ‘swim in the morning’ as bad and you’ll be unable to sustain it. Choose actions that you can fit in your day seamlessly. Doing so guarantees that you’ll make your brain happy and motivated to do it again!”
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OUR FRIENDS AT ALLPRESS – COFFEE ROASTERS FOR THE BEST INDEPENDENT CAFES IN THE WORLD AND YOUR KITCHEN TOO.
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Look, I don’t want to make anyone panic but IT’S DECEMBER!!! If you’re planning to give homemade gifts, you’re going to have to act fast. …
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This is a much-loved staple, created for Issue 50 in 2021. We love seeing the #PeppermintPaddingtonTop continually popping up in our feeds!
How stunning is our model Elon MelaninGoddessEfon – she told us it was one of the first times she had been asked to come to a shoot with her natural hair. 🌻
We worked with South African patternmaker Sarah Steenkamp of @FrenchNavyNow_ to create this wardrobe essential – the perfect puff-sleeve blouse. Raglan sleeves make it the ultimate beginner sew, plus the gorgeous back buttons let you add your own personal twist.
Pattern via the link in bio! 🪡
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Fabric: @Spoonflower
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“In the 1940’s, Norwegians made and wore red pointed hats with a tassel as a form of visual protest against Nazi occupation of their country. Within two years, the Nazis made these protest hats illegal and punishable by law to wear, make, or distribute. As purveyors of traditional craft, we felt it appropriate to revisit this design.”
Crafters have often been at the heart of many protest movements, often serving as a powerful means of political expression. @NeedleAndSkein, a yarn store in Minnesota, are helping to mobilise the craftivists of the world with a ‘Melt The Ice’ knitting pattern created by @Yarn_Cult (with a crochet pattern too), as a way of peaceful protest.
The proceeds from the $5 pattern will go to local immigrant aid organisations – or you can donate without buying the pattern.
Raise those needles, folks – art and craft can change the world. 🧶
Link in bio for the pattern.
Images: @Gather_Fiber @NeedleAndSkein @a2ina2 @KyraGiggles Sandi.204 @WhatTracyMakes AllieKnitsAway Auntabwi2
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TWO WEEKS TO GO! 🤩
"The most important shift is moving from volume-led buying to value-led curation – choosing fewer, better products with strong ethics, considered production and meaningful stories. Retailers have real influence here: what you buy signals what you stand for. At Life Instyle, this means using the event to discover and invest in small-scale, planet-considerate brands that align with your values and your customer’s conscience. Consumers don’t need more things; they need better things, and retailers play a key role in selecting, contextualising, and championing why those products matter."
Only two more weeks until @Life_Instyle – Australia`s leading boutique retail trade show. If you own a store, don`t miss this event! Connect with designers, source exquisite – and mindful – products, and see firsthand why this is Australia’s go-to trade show for creatives and retailers alike. And it`s free! ✨️
Life Instyle – Sydney/Eora Country
14-17 February 2026
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Calling all sewists! 📞
Have you made the Peppermint Waratah Wrap Dress yet? Call *1800 I NEED THIS NOW to get making!
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8 Things to Know About January 26 - from @ClothingTheGaps:
Before you celebrate, take the time to learn the truth. January 26 is not a day of unity it’s a Day of Mourning and Survival for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
It marks the beginning of invasion, dispossession, and ongoing colonial violence. It’s time for truth-telling, not whitewashed history.
Stand in solidarity. Learn. Reflect. Act.
✊🏽 Blog written by Yorta Yorta woman Taneshia Atkinson.
🔗 Link in bio of @ClothingTheGaps to read the full blog
#ChangeTheDate #InvasionDay #SurvivalDay #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe #ClothingTheGaps
As the world careens towards AI seeping into our feeds, finds and even friend-zones, it`s becoming increasingly hard to ignore.
We just wanted to say that here at Peppermint, we are choosing to not print or publish AI-generated art, photos, words, videos or content.
Merriam-Webster’s human editors chose `slop` as the 2025 Word of the Year – they define it as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” The problem is, as AI increases in quality, it`s becoming more and more difficult to ascertain what`s real and what`s not.
Let`s be clear here, AI absolutely has its place in science, in climate modelling, in medical breakthroughs, in many places... but not in replacing the work of artists, writers and creatives.
Can we guarantee that everything we publish is AI-free? Honestly, not really. We know we are not using it to create content, but we are also relying on the artists, makers and contributors we work with, as well as our advertisers, to supply imagery, artwork or words created by humans. AI features are also creeping into programs and apps too, making it difficult to navigate. But we will do our best to avoid it and make a stand for the artists and creatives who have had their work stolen and used to train AI machines, and those who are now losing work as they are replaced by this energy-sapping, environment-destroying magic wand.
Could using it help our productivity and bottom line? Sure. And as a small business in a difficult landscape, that`s a hard one to turn down. We know other publishers who use AI to write stories, create recipes, produce photo shoots... but this one is important to us.
`Touch grass` was also a Merriam-Webster Word of the Year. We`ll happily stick with that as a theme, thanks very much. 🌿
