Why I Wake Up Early and Love Being a Morning Person Now!

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!