Waking up early is something that many people dread. In high school, I used to be able to wake up at 6am, make a quick breakfast, and drive down to the pier to enjoy my food while looking over the ocean. I then came to college, and found that I had a hard time waking up and would usually end up waking up with only about 20 minutes before my first class. This would make me more tired, moody, and overall unprepared for classes/the day. I decided to retrain myself to be a morning person like I was in high school. For the past month, I have been working on being a morning person again, and this is what I have been doing to make it easier to wake up.
1. The night before, silence your phone an hour before bed and try not to go on it. This allows you to have some time to focus on yourself and get ready for a restful sleep. Phones can obviously get distracting and often times, we are in bed but don’t end up going to sleep for another couple hours because we waste the time on our phones. In addition, the light our phones omit can make for a restless sleep.
2. When the first alarm goes off, don’t press snooze. This is by far the hardest part. The initial sitting up and getting out of bed is very difficult but pressing snooze will only make it worse because it interrupts sleep habits and only gives you about 8 more minutes of sleep. Pressing snooze would make me feel groggy and more tired. Setting your phone or alarm a little further away will help you get up and not press snooze.
3. Start the morning with doing something positive. A lot of people start their morning with a workout or yoga. For me, something that helps is simply going for a walk. I’m usually up as the sun is starting to rise so I just throw on a sweats, a hoodie, fuzzy socks, and my vans (I don’t have to look great because people usually aren’t up anyways) and take a walk to catch the sun rising on the bluff. This helps me warm up to my day and practice mindfulness. Other days when I don’t feel like going for a walk, I will sit at my desk and drink some tea and listen to music– as long as I am out of my bed.
4. Getting up at the same time everyday. This is helpful when trying to make this an everyday thing (or even just the weekdays, like I do). Having a consistent time to wake up will not only make your body get used to it every morning, but I found that I helps set a schedule for the whole day.
Being a morning person might take some time but I think it is something everyone should try, even if just for a week. It may or may not work for some people, but I find that I am able to have some time to myself where I can slowly ease into my day and prepare. I am happier throughout the day, not having to stress about being late, having time to eat, and starting my day with something positive.