For as long as I can remember, I have been a night owl. I almost always find myself going to bed at ungodly hours and waking up as late as my schedule allows, even if school is in full swing. Last summer, however, I decided that I should attempt to break this unhealthy cycle with some of the free time I had on my hands. I would often find myself waking up past noon if I had a day off from work. This habit kept resulting in half-wasted summer days, which wasn’t okay with me.
I made sure to start with baby steps to make this process as easy as possible. On my days off, I began to set an alarm in the mornings. I would continuously change the alarm (slightly), setting it to go off a few minutes earlier every day. This method made waking up earlier a lot easier since I wasn’t jumping right into a drastic change.
I also began to fill my off days with more structure. I spend my summers on the beach so it’s very easy to simply lay in the sun all day. Of course, I still dedicated time in my day to the beach, but I added more depth to my schedule by running errands, playing tennis, and spending time with friends and family, etc. In addition to feeling productive, all of this ensured that I would be tired by the end of the day, which pushed up my bedtime.
After a few weeks, I found that my sleep schedule improved significantly. When I didn’t have to wake up early for work I still had a desire to go to bed before midnight, which I consider to be pretty early. Through these efforts I found myself appreciating the overall beauty and simplicity of the mornings, which is a mindset that definitely allows for a healthy lifestyle.