I’ll just come right out and say it: I am not a morning person. Even as I write this now, I feel like that’s the biggest understatement in the world. Every single time I wake up early, I am never happy—I am not happy because it’s early and because I know that I won’t be productive even though I now have more time in the day. I am usually so tired in the mornings that it physically hurts, so I never want to leave my bed. I do not believe that people can accustom themselves to waking up early over time because that was never my experience in high school or college.
Yet, despite knowing this about myself, I made the regrettable choice of scheduling early classes this semester. In fact, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, my classes start at 9:05 a.m., and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my classes start at 8:00 a.m. Yes, I said 8:00 a.m.—as in the earliest time a class could start. So why did I do this? How did I plan my schedule? And would I prefer to start my classes later?
I chose to have morning classes this semester because I heard that the professors teaching these classes were amazing. When I first started college, I got the advice, “take the professor, not the class.” I really took this to heart because in the past, I have been very positively affected by the educators I’ve had. That being said, I knew that when I was going to take tough classes like Calculus and Organic Chemistry, I would need professors that would give me the best chance to succeed. Unfortunately, this means that I was forced to take early classes.
Since I knew that I was going to start early each day, I decided to curate my schedule so that I would end early each day as well. I knew that if my mornings were not spent sleeping in, I’d need the opportunity to relax after my classes. I also like having back-to-back classes because I’m terrible at being productive during breaks. So I planned my classes really close together and each day—with the exception of night labs—I end either at 11:00 a.m. or 12:15 p.m. I’ve found that this makes my schedule much more bearable. I have attended every class so far, and I think knowing that I can spend the afternoon doing homework and relaxing definitely puts me at ease.
So all this being said, you may ask the question: would I schedule more morning classes in the future? Well, probably not. If I could make my classes two hours later in the day and still have the same professors, I would do it in a heartbeat. However, I am generally happy with my professors and I am doing well in my classes, so it has been worth the early wake-up call (but talk to me at the end of the semester, because this is definitely going to change). Changing up a typical routine can be worth it, but that’s not to say it’s always easy. I still hate mornings, but I appreciate the benefit of having good classes. So I guess I’ll live.
Remember: when changing up a routine, you need to know yourself in order to decide what’s best for you.
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