How to Become a Morning Person Once & For All: 8 Habits for Empty Nesters

When your kids were living at home, mornings came with their own built-in alarm clock. There were breakfasts to make, lunches to pack, carpools to drive, schedules to check, and people who needed you to get moving whether you felt like it or not! Then the nest empties, and suddenly nobody is waiting for you to get up.

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At first, that freedom can feel wonderful. And it is! But too much unstructured time can also make it surprisingly easy to drift. You stay in bed a little longer. You scroll a little longer. You tell yourself you’ll work out later, get dressed later, tackle that project later, and before you know it, half the day has disappeared.

If you’ve been wondering how to become a morning person now that you’re an empty nester, I don’t think the answer is turning yourself into one of those people who cheerfully leaps out of bed at 4:30 a.m. and has already reorganized the pantry by sunrise. No, thank you! I think it’s about creating a morning with enough structure and purpose that you actually want to get up and begin your day.

And purpose matters more than we sometimes realize. Research involving adults over age 50 has found that a stronger sense of purpose in life is associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality. That doesn’t mean sleeping late causes an early death, of course! But it reinforces something I talk about in my book: We were created for purpose, and that purpose didn’t end when our kids grew up and moved out.

One important note before we get started: Becoming a morning person does not mean becoming a sleep-deprived person. Healthy adults generally need at least seven hours of sleep each night, and our natural sleep chronotypes vary. If you want to start getting up earlier, shift your bedtime earlier too, preferably a little at a time, and try to keep your wake-up time fairly consistent.

Here are eight simple habits that can completely change the way you start your day.

1. Get Up Before The Rest of the House

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There is something wonderful about having a little pocket of quiet before everybody else is up. Even if it’s only 20 or 30 minutes, getting up before the rest of the house gives you a chance to start the day intentionally instead of immediately reacting to someone else’s schedule, your phone, the news, email, or whatever is hollering the loudest for your attention.

This is especially valuable in the empty nest because we finally have more control over our time. That is a gift, but we have to decide how we’re going to use it. Pick a wake-up time that works for your life and get up when the alarm goes off. No negotiations with the snooze button! You don’t need hours of alone time. You just need enough margin to start your day instead of letting your day start you.

2. Start Your Day With the Lord

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Before I fill my head with everything the world wants to tell me, I want to spend a little time remembering what is actually true. That might mean studying Scripture, praying, journaling, or simply sitting quietly with the Lord for a few minutes.

Don’t let your morning quiet time become another item on your list that makes you feel guilty if you don’t do it perfectly! Five focused minutes with Jesus is better than an hour-long plan that feels so overwhelming you never start. The goal is simply to put first things first and let the Lord set the tone for the day ahead.

Rather than using a daily devotional where someone else interprets Scripture and tells me what it means, I use an inductive Bible Study method to guide my quiet time (I learned how to do it from THIS book), where Scripture comments on Scripture using cross-references, a concordance, and a Bible dictionary. I write a lot in a cute notebook, sometimes writing out Bible verses, sometimes making lists about what the Bible says about a certain topic, and sometimes about things I’m struggling with and asking the Lord to guide me.

3. Three Things You’re Grateful For

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This one is BIG! Before your brain starts cataloging what’s wrong, what needs fixing, what somebody said yesterday, or everything you need to accomplish today, intentionally write down three things you’re grateful for. Write them down, say them out loud, or include them in your prayers. And try to be specific. Instead of “my family,” maybe it’s “the funny text my daughter sent last night” or “the phone call I had with my son yesterday.”

There’s good research behind this little practice too. A large 2025 meta-analysis found that gratitude interventions produced small but meaningful improvements in well-being across thousands of participants. I also love gratitude because it redirects my attention to the blessings God has given me. It reminds me that even in a hard season, there is still evidence of God’s goodness if I’m willing to notice it. In my book, Empty Nest Blessed: 60 Days to Finding Joy in the Empty Nest, I talk a lot about how gratitude is always coupled with joy throughout Scripture. It’s a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Happiness can come from circumstances or successes, but true joy emanates from Him.

4. Make the Bed

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Yes, really. Make your bed! It takes about two minutes, gives you an immediate sense of accomplishment, makes your bedroom look better, and sends a clear message that nighttime is over and the day has officially begun! There’s something powerful about starting the day with one small task already completed. Research also suggests that visual clutter can compete for our attention and add to our cognitive load, so creating a little order first thing in the morning may be more helpful than we realize.

This isn’t really about having a perfectly styled bedroom. It’s about momentum! One small completed task has a funny way of making you ready to tackle the next one. And on those days when you feel a little sluggish or unmotivated (we all have those!), sometimes the best thing you can do is stop waiting to feel productive and simply do one productive thing. Making the bed is an easy place to start.

5. Move Your Body

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Your morning movement does not have to be an elaborate workout or a full one every single day! Take a brisk walk. Stretch for ten minutes. Do some balance training with a balance ball. Do a strength workout with dumbbells. Hop on the treadmill. The important thing is to get your body moving early enough in the day that exercise doesn’t become one more thing you keep promising yourself you’ll get to “later.”

If you can get outside, even better. Morning light helps regulate the body’s circadian rhythm and can help you feel more awake, which is especially useful if you’re trying to shift toward an earlier schedule. And I think movement does something else too: It reminds us that taking care of our bodies is part of being ready for whatever God has for us in this season! I want to be strong enough to get off the floor after playing with the grandkids, and I want to prevent falls with good flexibility and balance. All of this takes training, and consistency is key!

6. Give Love to All of Your People

I love this song from Andy Grammer and LunchMoney Lewis and think about it almost every morning! (Warning: It gets stuck in your head, which may not be a bad thing!) In the empty nest, most of the time, my kids and grandkids are not with me, but I want them to know how precious they are to me and that I am praying for them!

If one of your adult kids is home, grab that hug while you can. If they aren’t, let this habit remind you to begin the day connected to the people you love. Send a text or schedule one to go out later. Schedule a FaceTime for later in the day or evening. Share a funny reel you saw on Instagram. Send a Bible verse. Hug your spouse. Say “I love you.” Pray for your kids whenever they come to mind (before worry takes hold), and text them to let them know you’re praying for them. (Philippians 4:6)

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The empty nest changes the way we mother, but it doesn’t eliminate the love behind it. One of the sweetest parts of this season is learning how to stay connected to our adult kids while also giving them room to live their own lives. We don’t need to spend the morning checking up on them, tracking them down, or making sure they remembered every single thing on their calendars. We can love them, pray for them, encourage them, and then get busy living the life God has given us too. Remember, you’re still setting an example for them and showing them what it looks like to live well as an empty nester.

7. Get Dressed, Including Hair & Makeup

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I know. Technically, you can answer email, do errands, unload the dishwasher, write a grocery list, and do half a day’s work in your pajamas. But I don’t think that always means you should! (Also, sometimes if you look cute, your husband may suggest taking you out to dinner, just sayin’!)

Getting dressed tells your brain that you have somewhere to be, something to do, and a day worth showing up for. I’m not talking about a full face of makeup and a fabulous outfit every morning. Fix your hair. Put on real clothes. Add whatever amount of makeup makes you feel like yourself, even if that’s nothing more than a swipe of lip gloss. This isn’t about impressing anyone else. It’s about treating yourself and your day like they matter.

8. Eat the Frog

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“Eat the frog” simply means: Do the thing you’re dreading most first. We all have one! It’s the phone call you’ve been putting off, the appointment you need to schedule, the paperwork staring at you from the counter, the email you don’t want to write, the bill you need to deal with, or the project that feels so big you don’t know where to begin.

Do it before you spend all morning thinking about how much you don’t want to do it! That dreaded task uses up a surprising amount of mental energy when it’s hanging over your head. Take care of it early, and you get to carry the satisfaction of having it finished into the rest of your day.

Your Empty Nest Mornings Can Have Purpose!

Sweet friends, you do not have to do all eight of these things perfectly every morning to have a good morning routine! This is not about turning the empty nest into one more season where we measure our worth by how productive we are. Remember, your worth is not found in your work, and God cares way more about people than projects!

It’s about intentionality. I call it adorational attentiveness. I want my days to reflect my adoration of the Lord, and I want to be an attentive, good steward of the tasks, talents, skills, health, and people He’s brought into my life.

For years, our morning purpose was shaped by our families’ needs. (What a precious calling!) Now we get to decide what our mornings will look like. That freedom is one of the gifts of the empty nest, but I think we enjoy it so much more when we give our days a little structure! I know I do.

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Psalm 118:24

So start small. Go to bed a little earlier. Set your alarm. Get up. Spend a few minutes with Jesus. Name three things you’re grateful for. Make the bed. Move your body. Love your people. Get dressed. Eat that frog. Then go see what God has for you today!

Leave me a comment and let me know what your morning routine looks like! I love this community, and we can learn so much from one another. Please use the icons below to share this article if you think it will encourage others. I’m so grateful for you!