At 6:39 every single morning, the clunky kitchen timer/alarm clock/ digital thermometer monstrosity sitting on my desk starts beeping. The beeps are slow at first, the pauses between the beeps stretching on for perhaps half a second, and then the ugly grey clock starts chirping with more urgency. It eventually escalates into a panic-inducing, this-building’s-about-to-blow alarm, but I try to smack the off button after the second or third beep. No one wants to wake up thinking they have to diffuse a bomb.
I’ve always gotten up early—I can remember early mornings in elementary school, when the sky would still be dark and my mother and I would sit at the kitchen table, reading quietly together. The smell of coffee always reminds me of those infinitely peaceful moments, those rare hours of silence in a house usually filled with the bickers and giggles of three little kids.
During middle and high school, I used to “sleep in” on the weekends—never later than 10:30—but that habit disappeared this past summer. Despite an injury preventing me from summer cross country training, I continued to wake up before seven, walking the dog as the sun painted the sky pink and then changed its mind and switched to blue. Sometimes, I’d catch my dad eating breakfast before heading off to work, and we would talk quietly in the still-sleeping house.
So, yeah, I’m a morning person. That evil, evil brand of unique human who likes to wake up and eat breakfast before my 8:10 classes, which I sign up for because I like them. Even worse? I try to be in bed before 10:30 on weeknights. And I aim to be asleep before 11:30 on weekends. *Gasps of horror echo throughout cyberspace.*
I know what you’re asking: WHY? Why would I do this to myself? Why would I deny myself the magic of binge-watching Netflix until two in the morning on a Wednesday? Why would I force myself to wake up four whole hours before Peirce opens for Sunday brunch? Well, my fine-feathered night owl friends, here are my reasons why:
1. Starting the day
When I wake up early, I escape the stress of running around my dorm, forgetting things and putting on my underwear inside out and choosing the more time-effective gum over the slightly-more-time-intensive toothbrush and toothpaste. I can move a bit more slowly, taking the time to make my bed, choose my clothes, and think a little about what I want to get done today. In fact, I think I’m going to pick up meditation in the mornings. I have enough time, so why not?
2. Time
This one seems a bit obvious, but I think it warrants its own explanation. This past summer, I was video chatting a group of Kenyon friends one night and told them that I needed to log off soon. They made fun of me for a while—when we lived together last year, they called me the “hall hobbit” because I went to bed early and didn’t “go on adventures”—but then we did a little math. In fact, we realized that I am actually awake for more hours than they are. In my opinion, mornings are one of the most productive parts of the day. One can exercise early, finish work, get ahead, relax for an extra hour… The list goes on and on. Yes, these things can be done at night, but if you have a question about an assignment at ten o’clock in the morning, it’s much more likely that you’ll receive an answer within the hour than if you’re sending an email at two o’clock.
3. Breakfast
This isn’t some spiel about “breakfast being the most important meal of the day.” It’s just one of my favorite meals of the day! The vibe is quieter in Peirce, the lines aren’t as long, and I know that there will be enough plantains to go around—yep, there are fried plantains at Peirce in the mornings. I also have a truly lovely group of people that I sit with at breakfast every morning. We work on the New York Times crossword puzzle together, and I can’t thank them enough for creating such a lovely beginning to my day.
4. The quiet
This probably sounds weird, but the world is so quiet in the morning. It’s hard to describe, and it’s different from the late-night quiet poets write about, but there’s something about the stillness of a new morning that strikes me. Whether I’m inside or outside, I sense this odd sense of freshness—yes, that’s the word. People are resting, the day is brand new, and I feel as though I’m privy to the very beginning of it all. The quiet has this hope to it, this expectation that anything can happen, that we have a whole day to discover something amazing.
5. Sunrises
Don’t get me wrong, sunsets are incredibly, stunningly, wonderfully beautiful. But sunrises are a whole other story. That freshness I mentioned earlier? That newness, that feeling that the world is beautiful and full of potential for even more beautiful things to happen? Well, all of that begins with the sunrise. My mother and I escaped to the beach for two days this summer, and I woke up before six on both mornings to watch the sunrise. Beach sunrises, to state the obvious, are even better than your average sunrise because the horizon is so vast and visible. The water also reflects the light in this really arresting way. And here I am, lucky enough to be alive and breathing and at the beach on this marvelous summer morning.
In conclusion, I formally invite you, Night Owls, to try and become an early bird. If even for a week. The sunrises alone are worth it.
Image credits: Taylor Hazan