One of my favorite and also most frustrating hobbies is self-improvement. I love watching documentaries on nutrition or reading books on the psychology of relationships, I meditate before starting my homework and I exercise almost every day so I can sleep like a log at night (which is a bit of a struggle for me). Maybe this makes me sound a little psycho, but I think I actually would end up even crazier if I didn’t have my routines. My favorite new routine, in the spirit of self-improvement practice, has been waking up early in the mornings. This recent spring weather in Winston has been the best thing ever to compensate for our painful winter, and being woken up by bright sunshine every morning is really not something to be mad about. Here are a few things that helped me get to this point of earlier bedtime and early morning productivity:
After a long day of classes all I ever want to do is just crash. I don’t want to think or study anymore, I just want to lay in bed or watch Netflix, and finding the motivation to do work is a recurring issue. As long as I get done what is really necessary, I can spend my night laying low and not worrying about grinding out work when I’m exhausted. This way, I can chill out, get a really good night’s sleep and wake up more enthusiastic and more energized to get through my to-do list in the morning hours before class.
“Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Hopefully this new habit of mine will make me all of those things. I try really hard to make my bedtime and wake up time as close to the same as possible every day. It makes it easier to get into the routine of an early morning start to your day.
Life is so short. We live the best and most abundant lives #ever and we need to show our appreciation for that by making the most of every day. We are lucky enough to go to a beautiful school that happens to be in a place with such pleasant weather and there are so many experiences out there to be had so don’t spend your days asleep or cooped up until late at night. Making my days start earlier is a way for me to practice gratitude for the life & lifestyle I have been given.
And that’s my spiel. Get on the gratitude train. Program yourself to get up early. You’ll never look back!