On Becoming a Morning Person

It wasn't until the fresh age of eighteen that I became a morning person. Perhaps it was out of necessity or perhaps it was just a quick switch flip that took place when I became an "adult." Let's set the scene: in high school, I would get up at 5:45 a.m. so I could get ready for school, out the door by 7:10 so I could get there on time. Like clockwork, I'd fall asleep at my usual midnight, one a.m. time slot, wake up a few hours later, paint on my face and head out the door after some breakfast. I suppose I followed the same schedule when I got to college, but I didn't have to head right out the door at 7:10 like I did in high school.

I had one 8AM class on Mondays in college and I think that set the tone for the week. I'd get up at six naturally and on days when I didn't have my 8AM (my next class was at 11:15 or so) and would have a few hours to kill. That's when I learned just how productive those few hours would make me and now I haven't looked back.

Even if I don't have anything to do until the afternoon, I generally wake up somewhere between 7 and 9, depending on what time I go to bed and how much sleep I've had lately. Like today for example...I don't have to leave the house until 5:40 today because I only have one of my three classes today. Since I didn't sleep great last week (read: at all), getting up at 9 a.m. was a no brainer, though I would've been fine with 8 a.m. I woke up, put my clothes away, made my bed and headed out into the living room to make breakfast and sit down and start my work for the day (which includes this blog post). That's generally how a morning with no classes or work goes, but results may very.

It took a while for me to learn how to be a functional human being in the morning, but here are some little tricks you can try in an attempt to transform yourself from a night owl into a morning person (though, I must admit, I still do carry a lot of my night owl tendencies, I can't help it).

1. Pick a good alarm

This might seem weird, but wouldn't you want the first thing you hear in the morning to be something pleasant? I'm not talking something relaxing, but maybe picking your favorite upbeat song at the moment might work. I religiously woke up to "Style" by Taylor Swift since 1989's inception in fall 2014 up until I moved into this apartment last August. Then, I switched to "Cake by the Ocean" by DNCE then moved onto "Wolves" by One Direction and now I'm testing out "Emoticons" by The Wombats. Pick something you wouldn't mind interrupting your precious sleep. Forget Marimba or those jarring, irritating alarms and pick out a song that will want to get you up and moving.

2. Stop snoozing

Even as a morning person, I still struggle with this snoozing aspect of waking up. I am the type of person who will set my alarm for twenty minutes earlier than I actually need to get up so I can snooze a couple of times. However, I'm trying to break myself out of that habit because I'd rather just get up and go instead of lounging for twenty to thirty minutes. As relaxing as it is, I'd probably get a lot more done if I just woke up and tried to start my day. If you're a serial snoozer, try reducing your snoozes every few days until you train yourself to resist the urge!

3. Force yourself out of bed

Sometimes you have to give yourself a little push. Gone are the days of "five more minutes, please." There are times where you just have to tell yourself that it's time to wake up, no matter how warm and cozy your bed is. Trust me, if I could lounge under the covers for an extra twenty minutes when it's freezing outside, I would do it in a heartbeat. Sadly, I generally have places to be in the morning, whether it's class or work, so this is not an option for me (and probably isn't one for you, either). Sometimes you just have to tell yourself that it's time to get up now and do anything to make sure it happens.

4. Have some water

Whenever I drink water before my coffee in the morning, I always feel instantly better. I know there's a reason behind this, but I know nothing about health benefits or really anything besides Harry Styles (even then, I am #Slacking on keeping up with that boy at the moment). I don't think I need to tell anyone that drinking water is a good thing to do for yourself, so just do it in the morning. I promise you'll feel better for one reason or another.

5. Don't get started right away

Now, I know, I know, Fran doesn't this defeat the purpose of getting up early? Not really! Wake up, put some water into your body and just take a moment to think about what you have to do rather than just diving head first into something. I generally create a to-do list the night before or even that morning to try to prioritize one thing over another or figure out which thing I have more time for. I'll try to group together smaller things to get done instead of tackling one massive project that I could potentially not finish. I'm not a big fan of starting things and picking back up later, so I'd rather get five small things crossed off of my to-do list over attempting (and failing) to tackle a big project on am morning where I'll have to interrupt myself. So maybe wake up, drink some water, think about what you have to do, scroll through social media and then try to start working on your homework or your work if you work from home. Maybe take some time to read, make a nice breakfast, anything to make you feel better about being awake hours before you're used to. Trust me, it's worth it!

Do you consider yourself a morning person?