These are
some of the reasons I wake up early (around 6am)
and love being a “morning person” now.
McKenzie goes to sleep around 10:30 with me and sleeps till about 9:30. So, I
usually get a solid 7 hours of sleep and McKenzie gets about 10 - 11 hours. She
gets up earlier sometimes, but I can usually get about 2 to 3 ½ hours in the
morning all to myself. It’s wonderful!
*Disclaimer:
I know that not everyone wants to get up early. I also know that some people
are more productive in the evenings and that some kids wake up super early and
go to sleep early. Some of these things could easily be applied to having time
to yourself and getting things done in the evening if that is what works for
you.
- The kid(s) isn’t up yet! This in
and of itself creates a whole list of great reasons to get up early.
- The house is quiet. Enough
said!
- Enjoy
your coffee in peace while it is still hot.
- Brush your teeth without chasing a toddler around and
slinging toothpaste everywhere that you will have to add to your already extensive list of things to clean up.
- Read a book, a blog, a magazine, or
really anything that doesn’t involve “night, nights” or counting every little
thing on every page.
- Get dressed all at once! Hair, makeup, and
clothes in one go with no interruptions. It’s like a dream come true. That is, if you can pull away from your dreams just a
little earlier in the morning.
- Meditate. That doesn’t mean you have to sit in
the floor with your legs crossed while chanting “om,” but definitely do if that’s
what works for you. It just means take some quiet time and use it to reflect
and find inner your peace. It
could be 5 minutes of thinking of your happiest memories, going over things you
are grateful for, or just not thinking of anything at all. Pretty much, just
clear your head and/or fill it with the positive.
- Watch the sunrise!
- Exercise. Even 10 minutes will make a difference in how you feel throughout the day.
- Now that you have had kid-free you
time, on to some productive things which coincidentally are also kid-free when you get up
early!
- Pay the bills. I know,
not fun, but isn’t it nice to be able to focus on the task at hand without
screaming and children’s songs
in the background right in your ears?
- Plan your day. Get out that lovely planner that has
been collecting dust or treat yourself to a new one and actually start using
it. If you’re more tech-savvy use an app or online calendar for this. It will make the rest of your day go so much smoother
and you will feel much more on top of things.
- Start your dinner. I know this seems like a strange
thing to do early in the morning, but let me explain. There are a few different
things you could do to make dinner-time go a lot easier and faster.
- Plan your meal (if you already haven’t).
- Set things out from the freezer if
you need to.
- Prepare all of your ingredients. Measuring, washing, peeling, and chopping. Then,
just throw everything back in the fridge to cook up later or…
- If you have a crockpot
it should
be your best friend set it up and then dinner will be ready to serve later.
These things may not seem like your accomplishing much, but
at 6 or 7 in the evening with a hungry family staring you down and your own
stomach grumbling at you, you won’t be scrambling to figure out what is in the
fridge and pantry to throw together at the last minute with hopes of serving up
something that is both nutritious and delicious. Whew…nice run-on sentence, but I think I made my
point.
- Speaking
of food; make breakfast for your
family before they get up. Wouldn’t
it be nice to actually enjoy a nice breakfast with your family instead of
everyone rushing around grabbing a poptart or cereal?
- Work on a project. It can be anything. Organize that closet you’ve been meaning to get to,
work on that craft you saw on Pinterest, schoolwork, blogging, painting, photography,
like I said anything.
- Chores. Again, not
the fun thing to do, but you can get them done a lot faster and they are so much easier uninterrupted.
- Insert: anything you have ever wanted
to get done without a little kid underfoot, things that you feel would get your
day started in the right direction, and anything else that would make you feel
more productive.
I am not at
all claiming to do all of these things every morning, but I generally get the “me”
stuff done before McKenzie gets up. Any time she gives me after that I use to
be productive and I get to whatever I can. It’s just nice to start the day
feeling put together and it is an even better feeling when I have accomplished
something before the day has even begun.
I also feel
like I have more time to devote to McKenzie and I'm a much more patient mommy in the mornings since I don’t have
to split my attention trying to get ready while I’m getting her ready for the
day as well.
It hasn’t
always been this way though.
I
had never been a morning person. I got up early because I HAD to for school,
work, or some other obligation that someone decided had to start before
noon. I would stay up way too late, drag myself out of bed after hitting snooze
about twenty times (which
led to me being late on more than one occasion), and then spend the
next couple of hours trying to become a functioning human being. Even on the
days I got to “sleep in” (till
11, 12, 1, or even later) I would still wake up sluggish.
I
was sure I just wasn’t meant to be one of those “get up on the right side of the bed,” “bright eyed
and bushy tailed,” “ready to hit the ground running” types of
people.
At
several different points in my life I made the decision that I would change
this. With my determination in hand, I would research and read up on anything
to do with being a "morning person" in the hopes of becoming a more productive
person.
I
found articles on sticking to a sleep routine; going to sleep at the same time
every night and waking up at the same time every morning. This seemed to work
great for the people actually doing it.
“I can’t
do that! My schedule is
all over the place.
I have random shifts at work
and
what if
I want to go to a late movie or
go out with friends.”
I
read about just getting the same amount of sleep each night and figuring out
how much was perfect for you.
“Nope!
Can’t do this one either! This will work when I only need 4 hours of sleep each
night. I can’t consistently get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. I don’t have
time for that.”
There
were articles saying to set your alarm and put it on the other side of the room
so that you have to get up to turn it off instead of just hitting snooze and
rolling back over to sleep.
“Well,
that won’t work. That will just make the alarm go off longer and it will wake
up everyone else in the house. That’s not fair to them.”
The
more research I did the more excuses I had. I never gave up though, and I would
apply several of the things I found over the years. The only problem was that
they never stuck.
I
would start out with enthusiasm and motivation which would last for a few days
if I was lucky, and then I would wake up one morning without those and just
roll over and go back to sleep, defeated once again.
When
did I finally become a “morning person?”
About a year ago.
Surprisingly
enough, it happened during one of the busiest and more challenging times of my
life. So, it seems that I just needed the right motivation.
I
was a newish mom (McKenzie was
almost one), I was working almost full-time (25-40 + hours/week), and I
had just re-enrolled in classes (three lecture
classes and one lab) for the
spring semester.
I
had a million things on my to-do list at any given time and needed to get them
all done with very little time to do them in. I needed to either cut some
things from my list and/or find more time. I chose to find more time.
It’s
pretty simple really. I just stopped making all those excuses, started going to
bed around the same time every night, waking up at the same time every morning
without hitting snooze, and got the same amount of sleep (enough sleep) every night. So, everything
I had read about and made excuses for were actually easy to apply to my life
once I got out of my own way.
Now,
those excuses I had made in the past were all still very real and could have
been obstacles if I had let them. I had to shift my priorities and figure out
what things were important for me and my family to make this change in my life.
I’ll
admit, it was challenging the first couple of weeks dragging myself out of the
bed every morning at 6am, but I held onto my motivation this time, even though I
used up all that extra time I had found just to brush my teeth, down a few cups of coffee,
and wake up. Once I got past that initial hurdle I started enjoying my mornings
(lowered my coffee intake) and I was able
to start using that time more productively.
I
also realized that a huge reason I used to wake up feeling so lousy in the
mornings was because I was throwing my sleep patterns all out of whack. I was
never going to sleep at the same time and I definitely wasn’t getting up at the
same time. Turns out, this doesn’t do you any favors. You might think, “Oh,
yay! I’m getting an extra couple hours of sleep today and that will make up for
me having to get up early yesterday.” But really
you’re just tricking your mind and body into thinking, well it really doesn’t
know what to think and that is where the problem is.
Once
I had a regular sleep/wake routine, I started feeling so much better in the mornings.
All of a sudden I had become a “morning person!”
“Morning
person” doesn’t have to mean waking up at 6am like I do. I feel like it just
means waking up feeling refreshed and ready to face the day. This can be at any
time. I do think it makes a huge difference to get on a regular sleep schedule
and that is what is really important to starting your days out right!
