Brittany Snow’s a.m. happiness hack is pretty awesome

Welcome to My Morning Routine, where Brittany Snow and other good-life gurus share their personal (frequently surprising, often healthy) morning rituals—to help you make your a.m.’s more awesome. 

Brittany Snow
Actress in Pitch Perfect and the TV series Workaholics

I wake up around 7:30 a.m., which is good for me—I am not a morning person. The first thing I do is pet my dog for way too long. We have a routine where she just rolls over because she knows it’s morning and I scratch her belly. Then I get dressed, brush my teeth, and go downstairs. Number one priority: coffee. I put it in a to-go cup, and take my dog for a walk.

When we get back, I make breakfast. I have a nutritionist who has me on a program where I eat a certain amount of oatmeal and egg whites. To make my oatmeal more exciting, I put frozen blueberries on top. The mix of hot and cold is exciting to me (I don’t get out much). I’m also obsessed with Justin’s almond butter—I put it on apples or get a little crazy and add it to my oatmeal.

I sit outside and try to read something of value while I eat breakfast. Lately, I’ve been putting classic movies on in the background, so I’ll be watching and reading at the same time. I’m trying to familiarize myself with the classics again. I love the look of old movies. There are certain ones I love, like Casablanca, that I get totally sucked into; but other ones, like East of Eden, I just watch James Dean and go back to whatever I’m doing.

I try not to go on Instagram or any other social media until later in the day, when I’m bored. I admit that I’m still bad about answering emails in the morning though. I wake up and think, Ugh, I should just get this done now. So I do send some emails during breakfast.

After breakfast, I put on my “getting ready” playlist, which plays on speakers throughout my house. It totally wakes up my roommate [fellow Pitch Perfect star Kelly Jackle], but she’s gotten used to it. She loves it now.

I don’t work out in the morning—my body will literally not move. I like waiting until around 5 p.m., which is when I feel the most energized. I have an elliptical at my house and I go to spinning three times a week. My roommate and I like to go running together about twice a week, and we do video workouts at home, too. We did Insanity every day for a while, which was a nightmare. But I like more intense workouts. I wish I was into yoga or barre, but I just get bored.

The last thing I do in the morning is put on my makeup, which really isn’t much. The one thing I do always put on is sunscreen. I have very fair skin, so that’s a must. My favorite is Coppertone Clearly Sheer because it’s super light and it finishes in a matte. And it doesn’t clog my pores, which is a major plus.

I don’t really have a mantra per se that I keep in mind throughout the day, but I do always remind myself about what’s important. Sometimes I get worked up about something and then I start thinking about what I’m grateful for and how much I have—hashtag blessed!—and that usually centers me. 

Want to follow Brittany’s lead and make gratitude a bigger part of your life? Here’s how to do it in under a minute. And yes, you can even practice mindfulness during your workouts.