A few years ago, I was having the classic college kid conversation with my friend about our hectic lives and schedules. During this discussion, she casually revealed she had recently started waking up at 5 a.m. Initially, I laughed and thought she was being dramatic to emphasize how early she had to wake up to complete her ever-growing list of tasks. Turns out, she was being completely serious, and I didn’t know it at first, but she was on to something good.
Three years and several “My Early Morning Routine” YouTube videos later, I finally took the plunge and started experimenting with the idea. As someone who has grown up as a night owl, I knew there was no way I was going to survive going to sleep at 2 a.m. then waking up at 5 a.m. With this in mind, I realized I had to do two very important things: start going to bed earlier and find a more achievable time to start waking up in the morning. Over the past couple months, I have awoken to the sweet, sweet sound of my alarm every day at 8 a.m. I chose to wake up at 8 a.m. because it was a two-hour improvement on the time I had been waking up throughout the entirety of summer. It also just felt way more plausible than 5 a.m.
I noticed a difference right away.
As previously mentioned, I have always been the type of person to stay up late then struggle to get through my day with really strong coffee and sheer will power. Now that I’ve had a taste of what it’s like to be on a solid sleep schedule and have a sufficient amount of sleep every night, I’m never going back to my old ways. Here’s why:
1. I’ve been in a better mood
You’d be surprised how much sleep deprivation can put a damper on your mood. Okay, that’s probably common knowledge, but I’ve lived in complete denial for a good ten years now. While I by no means have turned into Mother Theresa, there’s been a definite upswing in my overall frame of mind.
2. There are more hours in the day (duh)
The weekly struggle of deciding whether to stay up late and study is a thing of the past. Now that I wake up earlier, I have more time in the day to get my tasks done at my own pace. Plus, I’ve finally experienced the foreign concept of turning in assignments early, which is something my former self could have never imagined.
3. I’ve been more motivated to do things
This one goes hand in hand with the point I made about being in a better mood. With my increased energy and improved attitude, I’ve found it much easier to everything. An old hobby I’ve recently reincorporated into my life is reading novels. In the pre-college days, I would read all day every day. Then once the stress of being a full-time student running on three to five hours of sleep a night hit, any extra reading or energy exertion was out of the question. Since starting this early morning journey, I’ve been reading and finishing a couple books each week, which is a major accomplishment considering prior to this I hadn’t finished a book in almost two years.
Though some people may not think waking up at 8 a.m. is anything groundbreaking, it has been nothing but a positive experience for me. If I could give my current lifestyle choices a Friends episode name it would be “The One Where She Gets Her Life Together”.