Starting freshman year, I got into the habit of basing the time I wake up on the time my first class starts. In high school, I woke up and immediately started getting ready for school, so it felt natural to do the same thing in college too. But that method worked a lot better back then – when class started at 7am every day. This semester, the only morning class I have is at 10:30am twice a week, which has been amazing for me in many ways. Primarily, it’s forced me to realize that I can wake up for myself, not just because I have to go to work or school.
If you’re feeling disillusioned with your mornings and have started to dread them, I feel you. I’ve been a morning person for as long as I remember, but mornings for the past few years hadn’t been all that enjoyable for me. Having late classes this semester has totally changed that perspective. I know it seems like a morning person would enjoy early classes, but I absolutely love starting school at 2:30pm most days, because that means I get my beloved mornings to myself. Waking up at 6am every day, even though I don’t have anywhere to be until 8 hours after that, has made me feel more like myself than I have in years. It’s honestly easier than waking up at 10 to go straight to class.
Waking up now feels like I get to exercise, get dressed, catch up on my reading, or do whatever I want – rather than I have to go to class. It completely changes my mindset when I get up, which carries over to the rest of my day. My boyfriend has always liked sleeping in late, but now he has consistently started waking up at 5:45am and feels so much better throughout the day. It may seem dreadful or impossible to get up that early, especially if you aren’t a morning person, but I dare you to try it for even just 2 days. I take a mid-morning or afternoon nap when I must but carving out that quiet alone time for myself has been so beneficial.