I’m not a morning person. I know—there are plenty of not-morning-people. But I really don’t like mornings. If I have to wake up early, for a meeting or a doctor’s appointment or something, I tell Jesse to ignore everything I say or do until I’ve been up at least fifteen minutes. I get kind of growly. I sometimes say things that aren’t so nice. I can my morning self “Karen,” as in, “No, I didn’t say that; Karen did.” I forget who gave me that idea. Was it Sue? I didn’t come up with it, just recognized its usefulness and adopted it.
And I should clarify, when I say “early,” I mean anything before 8:00 a.m. I only pull myself out of bed around then to have breakfast with Jesse before he heads out to work, and I only do that because I would feel exceedingly guilty if I didn’t have breakfast with him before he left to work all day to pay our bills.
Other people in my family are not this way. If my dad sleeps past 7:00, we freak out and think he’s died in his sleep. He used to work two full-time jobs, a day shift and a night shift, and he got really good at telling his body exactly when to fall asleep and exactly when to wake up. My sister inherited this trait. I, apparently, did not.
There was a month or so when I was a teenager that I decided to become a morning person and got up at some ungodly hour, like 5:00 or something. I listened to morning radio shows and did math homework and felt proud of myself. Then I got sick and afterward lost my motivation.
But. I’ve decided to give mornings one more shot. I’m going to try and get up early (like, 6:00 a.m. early—I’m no teenager, so let’s not get crazy) every day for…well, some undetermined period of time. I’d say two weeks, or some other number, but if this really blows up in my face I don’t want the awkwardness of not meeting some random goal I selected on a sunny afternoon when I felt well rested and ambitious.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
13 Comments
Erin, I applaud your willingness to stretch beyond your comfort zone. Literally. There are only two days a week that I get up early on purpose. Tuesdays and Thursdays for Sergeant Larry’s 6am yoga class at the Y. I am already dreading tomorrow (Thursday) and am considering blowing it off. This happens every Monday and Wednesday night. I think giving myself permission to stay in bed somehow gives me the moxie to get up out of bed. That makes no sense, does it? And now that I’ve written it down, it probably won’t work anymore. Well, anyway, good luck with your experiment!
Descartes died from waking up too early, y’know.
He always liked to lounge in bed, spending early hours meditating. He eventually gets an invitation to tutor some royalty in the northern parts of Europe: Sweden, I think, but it may have been Norway. Anyways, the royalty demanded Descartes wake up early in the morning; as a result of the early morning sessions, Descartes’s immune system weakened, and Descartes developed pneumonia and died.
Sorry, just giving you a hard time
I think it’s great, and wish you well.
I get up at 6 every morning for work. And by every morning I mean, not really. Sometimes (like today) I reset my alarm for 6:30 and just take a shorter lunch, and sometimes I stay a half an hour late when I can’t force myself back to my desk after 30 minutes. I am not really a morning person either. Pete knows that until I have had a shower and my tea, there is no point in talking to me. I’m not very nice either
But I will get up early if I have to. It is my own choice to start work so early, as we have flex hours. I do it because I get to leave work at 4, which allows me to run errands after work if I need to, and in the winter it allows me to see a little bit of daylight, without which I would get severely depressed.
Erin, good luck.
I tried to wake up early, starting in winter. I did really well… sort of. I was up at 6am, but I was always dragging all day. I would try to read my bible and I would have no clue what I read; I would write in my journal and now when I turn back to those pages, all I would write were short entries about how tired I was and how I couldn’t really think.
I’m up at 6:30 now, thanks to the dog. I think it’s working so far…
I’m sure you’ll find things to enjoy in the morning! A cup of tea, a book… the real benefit to waking early is that you find so much more time in your day!
Katy: How fantastic that you’re getting up that early for yoga! What a great way to start a day. But certainly keeping motivated is the hard part…
Michael: GAH! Well, if I am truly not a morning person and fail at this attempt, at least I’ll have a really awesome reason now. If only I’d known that earlier. I’m sure I’d have added it to my morning ammunition: “Are you trying to KILL me?” I always felt like getting up early was a little like dying. I never knew how close I was.
Yana: You’re a good woman. I prefer being done early as well, which is part of my motivation for getting up early. It’s nice to get done with your work and still feel like you’ve got some of the day left.
Kir: Amazing the difference a half hour can make! If 6:00 doesn’t work for me, I’ll try 6:30 (or get a dog–which might be dangerous for both of us, haha). I love the feeling of a longer day, and I’m hoping that getting up early will have that effect!
In two weeks I will be teaching morning classes. So, I’ll have to get up at 530 am every morning, Monday through Friday. I’ll be right there with you, shorty.
Holy cow, that’s early! Hopefully all the slackers in your classes will stop coming quickly so you’ll have fewer papers to grade and will only have to deal with the ones committed enough to get up in the morning. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
It isn’t that mornings are necessarily bad – it is that late nights are so deliciously wonderful! The best part about being up at 6:30 (I’m forced to get up with the kid and all) is opening the house up to all that fragrant morning air before it gets humid and sticky. Then the house is filled with good air throughout the day. And I like the alterego thing. I may steal it.
I am with you on the not being a morning person part. I had a goal a month ago to get to work every morning by 7 am. Let’s just say that hasn’t worked at all for me. I don’t know if I just need to be more dedicated to it or what. Let me know how yours goes…if it works for you, maybe it could work for me too!
Michael cracks me up!
And I always tell people that I am “the mythical morning person.” I just plain like mornings. And after dark, I’m pretty much worthless for interaction or productivity, etc. I have to say: I looove that your family thinks your dad has died in his sleep if he’s still in bed at 7am!
Jen: Yes, nights can be lovely! It’s almost like the time doesn’t count when it’s not light out.
Becki: I hope I find the trick. So far, I think it might be going to bed early enough to not want to die in the morning. Not doing well on that this week. I’m going to try and be in bed by 10pm tonight, though.
Sabrina: You’re just like my sister and my dad! I think it’s fantastic. I wonder if there is something defective with me… Why do some people naturally get up earlier than others?
I have to add my two cents that I am really not a morning person either. I can and will get up early when I have to, like for work; like when I had to wake up at 6;00 for over two years to get to Harcourt by 7:30. But while I can do it, I HATE it! I hate waking up before the sun. Conversely, I am not a night person either. I like going to bed at a decent hour. So I have concluded that I am a DAY person.
Last point, though I’m not really very bratty in the mornings, if I am woken up in the middle of my sleep, I can be very unpleasant!
I have to add my two cents that I am really not a morning person either. I can and will get up early when I have to, like for work; like when I had to wake up at 6:00 for over two years to get to Harcourt by 7:30. But while I can do it, I HATE it! I hate waking up before the sun comes up and is out and shining. Conversely, I am not a night person either. I like going to bed at a decent hour. So I have concluded that I am a DAY person.
Last point, though I’m not really very bratty in the mornings, if I am woken up in the middle of my sleep, I can be very unpleasant!