Waking up in the mornings is a funny thing. It's almost like waking up from time travel. One moment it's one day, and then the next moment, that day is gone and it's another day- all with the literal closing and opening of an eye. It's like going on this long 6 - 8 hour journey that usually feels like five minutes in which you don't remember anything about. Then, you open your eyes, wake up and feel like you've either been hit by a bus or had a long night of drinking the night before.
Another funny thing about waking up in the morning is the way that it effects your thought process. Take for example this common situation: It's 6:30 a.m., and your alarm goes off. You push snooze because in your mind at that moment in time, eight more minutes sounds like an hour and sounds like if you can only get that eight more minutes of sleep, you'll be fully rested. Eight minutes goes by, your alarm goes off and you push snooze again. And again. And heck, you're already going to be running 30 minutes late, what's wrong with hitting snooze one last time? It doesn't even matter at this point, right? See, the mind does funny things when it's morning and your reasoning function isn't full awake yet. When I think about that situation now while I'm fully awake, I think it's dumb to push snooze that many times; I would love to have the extra 30 minutes to myself in the mornings so I don't have to rush around to get to work on time; however, if you ask me at 6 a.m. if I want that extra 30 minutes, you bet your bottom dollar I'm going to take it. It's like I'm two different people.
You see though, I really do like mornings. I don't know if I'd call myself a morning person, but I enjoy the part of the day before anyone else is awake yet; it's so quiet, and I feel almost like I have the world to myself. The hardest part of it all is the first minute and a half of trying to convince myself to crawl out of my warm cocoon and put my feet on the cold, wooden floor so I can make my way to the kitchen. After that 90 seconds though, early mornings are worth it.
So if you're like me and trying to get into the whole early-morning adulthood thing, here's a couple of bullets of advice:
- Start by setting your alarm just 15 minutes earlier each morning until you're used to the early times.
- Don't set your alarm to the tune of your favorite song; By day three you'll hate your alarm and you'll hate that song.
- Set your alarm far enough away form your bed that you have to get out of bed to shut it off.
- Don't give up, even if you still find yourself hitting snooze.
- Think about why you're waking up as you wake up, not why you shouldn't wake up early.
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: You snooze, you lose.