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It has been a tough road to become a morning person in college, but I'm glad that I worked towards it. The idea of pursuing this lifestyle started last semester. I was always so tired and I didn't quite understand why. Whether I got eight hours of sleep or eleven hours, I was trapped in lethargy. No matter if I woke up early in the morning, or deep into the afternoon, I had weary eyes and not much motivation to achieve anything. Not to mention that the stress of all of the adapting that I had to do as a first semester freshman wasn't easing up these struggles.
I stumbled upon the answer to my problems by reminiscing back to simpler times; when I was in high school, middle school, and elementary school. At first, I couldn't fathom how I was constantly able to wake up at six in the morning each day with such ease back then even after pulling all-nighters. Last semester, I only had one class at eight in the morning and the rest residing around noon, yet I still had so many problems with getting out of bed and starting my day. Sometimes, I'd wake up at six in the morning, other times I'd wake up at ten. Then I realized the issue, I had based my collegiate sleep cycle on my class schedule, and not on consistency.
Once my month long winter break came and went, I resolved to change things so that this semester would not only run smoother, but also so I would become more efficient and well, more awake. I started slowly, as I knew from past experiences of trying to fix my wrecked sleep schedules from summer vacations that creating a new sleeping pattern was not the easiest. First, I'd sleep thirty minutes earlier each day until I was sleeping around eleven p.m. and wake up at eight a.m.. Then, I let the adjusting take its own course on my sleeping habits.
The best way to aid with this was to find something to get me willing to wake up. For me, this was breakfast in the dining hall. I love breakfast, but now that I'm in college, I have had to eat my meals in terms of when the dining hall served that kind of food. Breakfast here is served until ten in the morning, so I made it my goal to wake up around eight a.m. to get a nice, piping hot omelette. It was difficult at first, but as my body got more used to this pattern, it began to fluctuate on its own. I began to grow tired at around ten p.m., and if I went to sleep at that time, I'd successfully wake up around seven in the morning without an alarm. As I perfected this sleeping schedule, my body would naturally wake up earlier and earlier. I would even wake up at six, or even five in the morning, without an alarm.
Once I was perfectly adjusted to waking up earlier, I decided that was the time to optimize my extra hours of the day. I would make sure to get a great breakfast each morning and catch up on the news while I ate. If I felt like it, I would make a hot cup of tea and just enjoy the calmness of being up earlier. By giving myself more time in the morning to "wake up" and relax, I became more prepared and focused for class. Instead of immediately waking up and rushing about to go to class, I was cruising through the morning at a slow speed that began to change the outlook I had for each day.
There are definitely so many advantages to being a morning person. Do you have a habit that you would like to introduce into your life? If so, then implement it into your newly attained mornings! Whether that may be yoga, exercise, or journaling, the opportunities are endless. For instance, I have truly missed reading daily. I used to read all of the time, but once I got into high school, I immediately ceased to read casually. But now, I honestly have no excuse. I have so much more time to read, granted that I finished the previous night's homework. So far, I have completed a 400 page book, and I have a line of books waiting for me to read, and I can't wait to pursue them all during my newly gained mornings.