The Simple Rhythms That Took Me From Survival Mode to Joyful Motherhood

I used to feel really stuck in my life and sort of trapped in motherhood, and I’d always try these radical ways to change my life – but over the past few years I’ve built some small simple, daily, weekly and monthly routines for myself that have really improved my day-to-day life as a Christian mother.

I used to think that if I could just find the right planner, the right morning routine, the right system—everything would finally click into place – I thought, surely I was one color-coded chore chart away from domestic bliss. But here’s what I’ve discovered: It’s not about having more time or more help or easier children. (Though wouldn’t that be lovely.) It’s about knowing exactly which practices will transform your life—and which ones are just a distraction or busy work keeping you from making real progress.

Today, I’m walking you through the exact daily, weekly, and monthly rhythms that took me from surviving in a fog of exhaustion to actually delighting in my days. And I’m going to show you how to build your own in the next 30 days.

Before we dive into the specific tasks and rhythms, I want to set realistic expectations about what transformation actually looks like. Because here’s the thing: real, lasting change doesn’t happen overnight. It unfolds in stages and most women don’t fail because they choose the wrong routine. They fail because they expect week 4 results in Week 1.

Weeks 1 & 2 — Setting the Foundation

Week 1 and 2 are delightfully messy – that’s good, embrace it. This is where you’re getting consistent, adjusting expectations, and learning what actually works for YOUR life. You’re going to try things that don’t work. You’re going to forget to do half the things on your list some days. You’re going to feel like you’re fumbling in the dark a little bit.

You’re discovering that maybe you’re not actually a 5 AM person. Perhaps you’re a 10 PM person who’s been forcing herself into morning routines designed for early risers when you are, decidedly, wired for later in the day. You’re figuring out that meal planning on Sunday night stresses you out, but Thursday afternoons work perfectly.

During these weeks you’ll be operating on motivation so you’ll at least have that going for you…

Week 3 — Resistance

Until around week 3. Week 3 is where your brain will resist these changes and tell you all kinds of stories that try to get you to quit and if you push past that and just trust the process, you’ll start to see the fruit. You’ve been consistent enough in weeks one and two that now you can actually see patterns starting to form. You start tweaking habits based on what you learned from the previous weeks. This is the week where you start to feel the momentum building.

Week 4 — Flow

By week four, something beautiful happens. There’s less resistance now. Less internal negotiation every single time you go to do something. Things start to flow and it starts to feel glorious. You’re not white-knuckling your way through your morning routine anymore—you’re actually enjoying it most days.

The habits start to feel natural. They require less mental effort – this is just how you live now. You reach for your journal in the morning without thinking about it. You automatically fill up your water bottle. You don’t have to remind yourself to stretch after your workout—your body just expects it now. This is when transformation becomes your new normal. When the life you were intentionally building becomes just who you are now.

You don’t have to wait for the perfect Monday or the first of the month. You can start today by choosing just three tasks from each of the following categories, and you’ll change your life in 30 days.

We’ll start with daily rhythms, then go into weekly, then monthly – Think of these like a menu – pick what sounds good and leave the rest.

DAILY RHYTHMS (the backbone)

The beauty of filling your life with intentional practices is that less screentime becomes a natural byproduct of a well-stewarded day – so choose even just a few of these, and your hands and mind are occupied with things that actually restore you…You’re not fighting against phone addiction with willpower alone—you’re simply replacing mindless scrolling with life-giving activities and you’ll become sort of obsessed with being off your phone.

1) Quiet time with the Lord

Before anything else—before the day arrives with its demands and its noise—there’s this: Quiet time with the Lord.

It’s not a box to tick. It’s the place where we orient our hearts toward the Lord before the world orients our hearts toward itself. Before the news tells us what to fear, before social media tells us what to want, before our to-do lists tell us who to be.

This can look different for different people in different seasons, which is the beauty of it. But, this is the foundation of everything else. It’s where we orient our hearts toward the Lord before our to-do lists. You might follow a reading plan—something structured that takes you through books of the Bible systematically. I have a free study through the book of Romans. It’s a great place to start if you’ve been wanting to get into deeper Bible study but you’re not sure where to begin. Or you might simply read a portion each day—maybe a chapter, maybe a few verses that you sit with and really meditate on.

Spend time in focused prayer. This doesn’t have to be an hour on your knees, though it certainly can be if that’s your season. It might be ten minutes of bringing your day, your worries, your children, your marriage before the Lord. It might be praying Scripture over your home or interceding for a friend who’s walking through a hard season.

Sing, play, or listen to worship. There’s something about worship that shifts the atmosphere of our hearts and our homes. Maybe you play an instrument, or you put on a worship playlist while you make breakfast. Maybe you sing hymns while you fold laundry – whatever it is, just let worship be woven into your day.

And here’s one practice that has deeply impacted my own walk with the Lord: Scripture writing. Not just reading it, but actually writing it word for word. There’s something about the slowness of it that makes Scripture come alive in a new way. It’s impossible to skim when you’re transcribing.

2) Drink enough Water

I know, I know—this seems almost too simple to mention. Too ordinary. Too obvious But how many of us get to the end of the day and realize we’ve had three cups of coffee and maybe one glass of water?

Personally, I drink 120 ounces of water per day. But your goal might look different, and that’s okay. It should be adjusted for your body size, the season you’re in, whether you’re nursing or pregnant – all kinds of factors. But keep in mind that your body adjusts to the amount of water you give it – so even if you don’t feel thirsty – thats just because your body has adapted to the amount of water you’ve given it and think about how much better your body would function if you drink more. When you’re properly hydrated, everything works better. Your brain works better. Your digestion works better. Your skin looks better. Your energy is more stable.

So make a goal. Track it. Get a water bottle you actually like using. Not the one that leaks in your bag or the one with the straw that’s impossible to clean. Get one you’ll actually reach for. Set reminders on your phone if you need to. And remember too that at first you’ll have to use the restroom constantly. That’s normal. But as your body adapts and your hydration levels normalize, your kidneys become more efficient and your cells begin utilizing the water for proper cellular function, circulation, and metabolic processes—so you typically won’t feel like you have to go quite as often once your body reaches balance. It’s such a simple thing, but it makes a real difference.

3) Daily planning — Everything Logbook Method

Alright, let’s talk about daily planning and what I call the Everything Logbook Method.

I’m not talking about a complicated planner system with color-coded tabs and seventeen different notebooks. I’m talking about one simple notebook that becomes a guide for your day.

For daily planning, I have four simple sections…

First: Brain Dump To-Do List

This is where you get everything out of your head and onto paper. Every single thing that’s floating around in your mind taking up mental space—write it down. This alone will make you feel lighter. It’s remarkable how much mental real estate is occupied by the dentist appointment you need to make.

Second: Habit Tracker

This is simply a list of the habits you’re working on building, with a little box next to each one that you can check off. Maybe it’s your Bible reading, your water intake, your workout, taking your vitamins.

There’s something satisfying about checking those boxes. And there’s something clarifying about seeing patterns over time—noticing which habits you’re actually consistent with and which ones keep getting skipped – it spotlights what hasn’t been a priority for you.

Third: Triage List

This is where I put things that I need to deal with later, but not necessarily today – but that I also don’t want to do right that very second, and I can triage it later.

Fourth: Daily joy

This section has genuinely changed the way I experience life.

If you’re feeling sort of disillusioned by the whole concept of writing out gratitudes or keeping a thankful journal—like it feels rote or performative or like you’re just going through the motions—I want you to try something.

Replace I’m “grateful for” with these two words: “delighting in.” So instead of saying “I’m grateful for coffee” or “I’m grateful for my family,” say “I’m delighting in that feeling of the first sip of coffee in the morning” and “I’m delighting in a slow Saturday morning with all my children piled in our bed to start off the day.”

Do you feel the difference? Gratitude can sometimes feel like an obligation—like you’re supposed to be thankful so you dutifully write down “my health, my family, my home.” But delight? Delight is savoring. Delight is noticing. Delight is letting yourself fully experience the goodness of a moment. I noticed that when I switched the semantics of this little gratitude practice, I started noticing so much more beauty in my days. I started actually delighting in my days more.

Simple things like my daughter’s sweet squeaky voice—the way she says “mama” with that little lilt at the end. The glorious feeling of having dinner prepped before nap time, knowing that the evening won’t be chaotic and rushed. The way the afternoon light comes through the kitchen window while I’m washing dishes.

These aren’t big, Instagram-worthy moments. But they’re the moments that make up a life. And when you train yourself to notice them, to delight in them, to write them down—your whole experience of your days shifts. You can learn about my daily planning process more in-depth in my Everything Logbook Method video.

4) Becoming Journaling

For me, journaling also lives in my Everything Logbook, though you can absolutely use a separate journal for this if you prefer.

I’m going to explain this peripherally here because I have an entire in-depth video on this method. But essentially, Becoming Journaling is about mentally rehearsing the woman you’re becoming – the nurturing mother you want to show up as, the loving wife, the joyful homemaker – which helps you identify the thoughts, habits, and choices that version of you would make for the day ahead. It’s incredibly powerful, and I don’t want to rush through it here, so definitely check out that full video.

6) Read 15 minutes before bed

I sneak reading a few pages into moments all throughout my day, but I prioritize 15 minutes during what I call my “golden hour” every evening—that last hour before bed—because it helps keep me off my phone right before bed. The children are sleeping, the kitchen is clean, and I get to enjoy a quiet moment with my book every night. Fifteen minutes doesn’t sound like much. But over time, it becomes dozens of books. Not a bad way to end the day if I do say so myself.

7) Get your heart rate up

This can be a walk, a hike, a run, a workout—just get some kind of movement that elevates your heart rate. Our bodies were made to move. We’re not designed to sit at desks or on couches all day. And when we move our bodies, everything else works better – your mood, sleep, energy, mental clarity all improve.

I’d love for my workouts to be the same thing everyday, but I’m not in a season like that right now so I’m doing what I can when I’m able. I’ve joined a running club with some other moms in my area and we all run together a couple times a week, I also joined a hiking club with some moms which has been a fun way to stay active outdoors. But outside of that I like to do little video workouts at home or in the gym – it looks different for me everyday, but the goal is to just be active.

8) Stretch and foam roll

And then you need to adequately recover so make it a point to stretch and foam roll daily. Just take ten glorious minutes. Put on some music or a podcast. Stretch and roll – let the children crawl all over you, visit with your husband while you do it, but take care of yourself. Here’s my favorite foam roller.

9) Compliment your spouse

Compliment your spouse. Like actual, genuine compliments. And if you’re having a hard time with this—if you’re in a season in your marriage where you’re feeling frustrated or disconnected and the only things you can think about are all the things that annoy you about him—I want to give you a little thought experiment that might help – and also encourage you to definitely choose this one as one of your daily things that’ll change your life! Ok, so the thought experiment…

Take one of those annoyances that you keep thinking about. Let’s say “he never initiates deep conversations—he just wants to watch TV and zone out after work.” Now switch it to “He carries the weight of providing for this family all day long — and when he comes home, he feels safe enough here to finally exhale.”

Or how about instead of “he’s disengaged,” it’s:

“This home is his sanctuary. And I have the privilege of making it even more so.” Then compliment him on that. Something like: “I really admire that you know how to rest. I’m still learning that. But I love that you model it.”

Do you see what we’re doing here? We’re taking the ammo that the enemy plants in our minds—those critical, annoyed thoughts—and we’re taking them captive. We’re reversing them into something we can use to build him up instead of tear him down. This is spiritual warfare. The enemy wants division in your marriage. He wants you focused on everything your husband does wrong.

But we can choose differently. We can train our minds to notice what’s good, what’s admirable, what’s worthy of praise. And here’s what’s beautiful: when you start genuinely complimenting your husband, when you start speaking life over him instead of criticism, something shifts. In him, yes. But also in you. Your heart softens towards him. Your perspective changes. You start noticing more things to appreciate.

Stewarding Your Nervous System

Now here’s the part where a lot of moms get frustrated: They try to do all of these things… but they’re still drowning and overwhelmed. Why?

Because they’re trying to build routines on top of a nervous system that’s already maxed out. It’s like trying to plant a garden in concrete. So, this last daily practice is so important and so often overlooked: Stewarding your nervous system well.

Your nervous system was designed to be tended, not ignored. Think about it: God created your body with this incredibly sophisticated system that’s constantly monitoring your environment, assessing threats, and responding accordingly. It’s always working in the background, trying to keep you safe. But here’s the problem: most of us have been unknowingly walking around in low-grade fight or flight for far too long.

Which is why so many moms are constantly overstimstimulated. Reacting before they even have time to think. Tiny things stress them out beyond belief and before they know it they’re frantically moving about the house and don’t even know why. You feel tired but wired. You have trouble sleeping even though you’re exhausted. You’re irritable and short-tempered. You get sick more often. You feel anxious for no clear reason. These are all signs of a dysregulated nervous system.

And the beautiful thing is: there are very practical, very effective ways to regulate your nervous system intentionally. To move yourself out of that fight-or-flight state and into a state of rest and restoration. This is exactly what I teach in my free workshop.

In that workshop, I give you very practical tools you can implement starting today to calm your nervous system. If you’ve already watched it, I want to encourage you to watch it again because I recently refreshed it with even more information.

Everything else we’ve talked about—all these daily rhythms and practices—they work so much better when your nervous system is regulated. When you’re constantly in fight or flight, everything feels harder. Your patience is shorter. Your capacity is smaller. Your joy is more elusive. But when you learn to steward your nervous system well, when you learn to intentionally move yourself into a state of calm and rest, everything else flows more easily.

You have more patience with your children. More grace for yourself. More capacity to show up for the rhythms and practices you’re trying to build.

So think of that free workshop as a quick-start guide for all of this. It’s built around a 7-day reset that will give you immediate tools and immediate relief for free – I genuinely want to equip you with these tools because I’ve seen how transformative they are for women.

WEEKLY RHYTHMS

1) One casual at-home date night with your husband

I know, I know—you’re thinking “I don’t have time for a date night every week” or “we can’t afford a babysitter every week” or “by the time we get the kids to bed, we’re both exhausted.”

I get it. That’s why I’m specifically saying at-home date night. This doesn’t have to be elaborate. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It just has to be intentional.

Here are some sweet in-home date night ideas:

• Wine and chocolate tasting. Get a couple different wines and a few different kinds of chocolate. Sit on the couch after the kids are in bed and have a little tasting sesh. Or any number of different “tasting” style dates. You could do coffee tasting, cheese tasting, different kinds of bread or crackers—anything where you’re trying new things together.
• Games. Pull out a board game or card game. Teach each other games from your childhoods. Get competitive. Laugh together.
• Themed meal ideas. Pick a country and make a meal from that cuisine. Or make homemade pizza together. Or something fun like fondue. The point is to make it feel special and different from your regular weeknight dinners.

All the while, have deep conversation and just dream together. Dream about the future. Talk about your hopes and fears. Reconnect on a deeper level than “did you pay the electric bill” and “what’s for dinner tomorrow.” The goal is connection.

If you can’t swing a full date night each week in this season—maybe you have a newborn or you’re in an especially demanding season—try just setting aside one night where you and your husband go to bed early and just have extra pillow talk. No phones. Just the two of you, talking in the dark, reconnecting.

Your marriage needs this regular tending and these little pockets of time where you’re not just co-parenting or managing the household—you’re actually enjoying each other.

2) One Sabbath evening—or a full day if you can

No phones allowed. This can be doubled up with date night if you wish, but remember that the Lord gave us rest as a gift, not a burden. It’s God’s invitation to cease striving, to remember that the world doesn’t depend on our constant productivity. Light candles. Make a special meal. Read Scripture together. Play games. Take a walk. Sit outside and watch the sunset.

3) Weekly planning — Everything Logbook Method

Just like with daily planning, I use a simple notebook for my weekly planning.

At the top of the page, I write “Week of [date] to [date].” Then below that, I have the days of the week listed out, and under each day I have three categories:

• Dinner – what we’re eating that night
• Special Activity – anything out of the ordinary happening that day (appointments, playdates, errands, etc.)
• Misc. – anything else I need to remember for that day

This takes me maybe ten minutes on Sunday evening, but it gives me such clarity for the week ahead.

4) One wellness day

This is your day for the everything shower – you probably know what I mean – but you just take some extra time to get super fresh. Then, maybe do some tweezing or put on bronzer if that makes you feel good or any of the personal maintenance things that make you feel put together and cared for.

It’s so easy to let this stuff slide when you’re busy caring for everyone else. But you deserve to feel good in your body – to look in the mirror and recognize the person looking back. So pick one day a week and make it your wellness day.

5) Share your faith

Intentionally talk about Jesus at least once each week. This could be with a neighbor, a friend, a stranger at the grocery store. It could be sharing your testimony. It could be inviting someone to church. Take some time to pray each week during quiet time and ask the Lord how He wants you to do this and to whom.

We’re called to be witnesses. To share the hope we have in Christ, so make it a practice to look for opportunities each week to talk about Jesus.

Invitation to Called to Create

If you’re a mother who feels stirred to share her faith more boldly — not just in passing conversations, but in a way that reaches beyond your immediate circle — and you sense that YouTube might be part of that calling…

I’ve been prayerfully considering hosting live calls where I walk through how I structure my work and grow a YouTube channel specifically as a platform for sharing Christ — without sacrificing my family or my peace.

If you’re curious, and you feel you have a calling to create content – you can join the waitlist. It’ll be where I pull back the curtain on how I actually create content—filming, repurposing, and the systems that allow me to show up consistently without living on the edge of burnout.

6) Plan meals for the week

Even if you just pull the meat out for the week. Meal planning doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as knowing what protein you’re going to cook each night and figuring out the sides later. Or you can get more detailed and plan out full meals.

Either way, having some kind of plan eliminates so much decision fatigue and stress. And here’s a tip: use a capsule grocery list. This is something I explain in my blog about home systems. But basically, it’s a master list of everything you regularly buy, organized by store section, so you’re not reinventing the wheel every week.

MONTHLY RHYTHMS

1) One weekend completely free of work

Personally, I do one full week free of any heavy lifting. I don’t do anything big for this channel. I go on a long date day with my husband. We focus on family time and rest. Now, I understand this isn’t feasible for everyone. But I want to challenge you to figure out how you can make this work for you and your situation.

Maybe you can rearrange your life in a way to actually make this possible. Maybe you can batch your work so you have one weekend a month that’s truly free. Maybe you can trade childcare with another family so you and your husband can have a full day off together. Be creative. Think outside the box. Think like someone who believes rest is productive, not indulgent.

2) One declutter / organization day

And this doesn’t have to just look like decluttering the house—though it can. Think about all the areas of your life that accumulate clutter:

• Your physical spaces—closets, drawers, the garage, the kids’ toys
• Your digital spaces—your phone, your computer, your email inbox
• Your schedule—activities and obligations that need to be pruned

Once a month, pick one area and do a deep declutter and reorganization. This keeps things from getting overwhelming. It keeps you from looking around one day and feeling buried under the weight of too much stuff and too many commitments. It keeps you from becoming one of those people who can’t find their car keys because they’re buried under seventeen Amazon boxes and a pile of unread mail.

3) Monthly check-in

Do a monthly check-in: which systems and rhythms are working and which need to be pivoted? This is where you get to be honest with yourself about what’s actually serving you and what’s not. Maybe you tried a new morning routine and it’s just not working. That’s okay. Adjust it.

4) Fasting

And finally, I want to talk about fasting. In order to refresh your body, mind, and soul, the Lord invites us into prayer and fasting in order to cling to Him. Fasting is not about willpower—it’s about creating space to cling to the Lord. If fasting feels intimidating or unfamiliar, that’s okay. Let me walk you through how to approach it:

Step 1: Pray First

Before you decide what to fast or for how long, ask the Lord:

What are You inviting me to fast from?
For how long?
What are You inviting me to seek during this time?

Let Him lead. This isn’t about you deciding to be super spiritual. It’s about responding to His invitation.

Step 2: What to Fast

Food fasting is one option, but not the only one.

Food Fasts (for those not pregnant or nursing):
Skipping one meal a day
A 24-hour fast or longer (I’ve done up to 3 days and they are incredibly powerful!)
A simple food only fast—soups, broths, things like that
Sugar or snacks
Coffee or caffeine

Non-Food Fasts (equally powerful):
Social media
Shows, music, phone calls
Shopping or online browsing
Basically anything you look forward to in a day that isn’t intimacy with the Lord can be fasted

The point is to remove something you normally turn to for comfort or pleasure or distraction, and instead turn to the Lord.

Step 3: Plan the Logistics

Prayerfully decide:
When the fast will begin and end
What you’ll do during moments of discomfort or habit-pull

And here’s the key: the answer is always to PRAY and go to the Word.

Specifically decide which Scriptures you’ll pray or read when you’re struggling. Write them down ahead of time so you’re not scrambling in the moment. Replace what you remove with prayer and Scripture.

Step 4: Set Your Intention

Write one sentence: “I am fasting from ___ to seek the Lord for ___.”

This gives you clarity and purpose. When it gets hard—and it will get hard—you can come back to this intention and remember why you’re doing this. Fasting is not about earning God’s attention—it’s about giving Him yours and clinging to Him when you’re struggling.

This trains your mind to turn to Him when you’re struggling with life’s stressors. It builds spiritual muscle. It deepens your dependence on Him. And that’s the whole point. And if you’re realizing the real issue isn’t motivation—it’s the fight-or-flight cycle underneath your rhythms—go watch my free workshop, From Survival Mode to Peace-Filled Homemaking in 7 Days. It’s always such a joy to have you here.