How I Became a Morning Person
Rise & Shine friends, it is 8am and my internal alarm clock is waking me up! With Lane's work schedule completely opposite from mine, I have slowly started becoming a morning person, and I absolutely love it. Waking up early (when I say early, I mean 8 am) gives me plenty of hours in the day to finish housework, schoolwork, wedding planning, work work, and anything else the day has to offer without staying up into all hours of the night. This leaves me feeling refreshed when I wake up in the morning, instead of groggy and sleepy. Being a college student, the norm is to stay up late and wake up late, but I think I have figured out that is not the best for me. I want to share with you how I became a morning person and all the perks it has given me. :-) 
ONE: This is the most important rule for me, set goals for yourself for the day. Every morning when I wake up I either write down or make a mental note of everything I want to get done for the day by a certain time. Doing this helps me not to procrastinate and wait until the sun goes down to start everything on my list. Lane gets off work at 3:30pm daily, so I like to try to have all of the items on my list checked off by that time (if I don't have to work). That gives me almost 8 hours to accomplish whatever I need to do.
TWO: When I first wake up, I brew a pot of coffee and make myself an vanilla iced coffee and scroll through any social media/blogs/news that I come across. Not a big fan of hot coffee especially in the summer months, but I do love myself an iced coffee (any flavor, really). Making time FOR ME like that in the morning is so relaxing and calm. I usually spend about 15-30 minutes doing so, while enjoying breakfast, which leads me to my next point.
THREE: Eat breakfast. Believe it or not, this was VERY hard for me. I am NOT a breakfast person at all, I usually eat around 10 or 11 am or just end up eating lunch around noon. Lane eats as soon as he wakes up, so I have become accustomed to eating within the hour I wake up. Also, I am NOT a big breakfast eater; I will usually drink a protein shake or make some toast & jelly or eat a granola bar never forgetting to re-hydrate (always drink plenty of water in the morning). It does make you feel better though, those days that I get up and eat, I feel more energized and ready to start the day.
FOUR: DON'T HIT SNOOZE. Whatever you do, do not hit the snooze button. Get up as soon as the alarm goes off, and don't look back. Once you fall back asleep after you hit snooze, you are just asking to feel tired, sluggish, and blah. Just roll out of bed, start mentally preparing your goals for the day, brush your teeth, throw some cold water on your face and I promise you will wake up.
FIVE: When you wake up in the morning, take 2 minutes while still in bed to just streeeeeeetch. I honestly don't do this every single morning, but when I do it makes me feel 1000000% better. Especially those nights that I am on my feet for hours at work not getting home until 10 or 11 pm.
SIX: This goes with the point above, but I feel so much better throughout the day when I get up and work out in the morning. I haven't done this in a while, because I usually get up and work on schoolwork or my blog. Yoga or a quick 20 minute cardio sesh is perfect right when you wake up, it gets the blood flowing for the day. ;-)
Perks of waking up early:
- Less stressed
- Gives you a head start for the day
- Never be late again
- Improve your quality of sleep
- More proactive & optimistic
- Plan your day better
- Set goals for yourself
- Gives you quiet time
- Enjoy breakfast instead of "eat on the go"
- If you're up early enough, you get to watch the sunrise
I was reading an article the other day, and I came across something Steve Jobs said and I absolutely loved it. When he woke up every morning, he would ask himself one simple question, "Every morning I'd ask myself, 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"Another quote by Ben Franklin, "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
I know this post is a little different from my usual blog post, but I felt the need to share how I became a morning person. Now that we are all getting older, graduating from college, working the real 9-5 job, it is important to get your life on track and start living a healthy lifestyle. You don't think at this age right now it is hurting your body, but the time will come and it will creep up on you. So give it a try, and if it works out, I will be super excited for you!!!! :-)xx Kristin