Becoming a Morning Person & My Routines

Posted February 6, 2017 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 13 Comments

I loved Stephanie’s post about how she prepares the night before to make mornings easier, and how she’s sort of become a morning person since then. I drafted this post back then, and finally finished it off when I saw Kristin’s post recently. I totally related when I read these because I’ve been trying to do something similar this year. I don’t always succeed in waking up early, but I do always feel better when I do.

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My Journey to Become a Morning Person

I used to sleep incredibly late because I would stay up incredibly late. During college, I’d be up until 2 AM watching shows on Netflix. I didn’t have class until 11:00 AM on most days, so it was perfectly fine for me to then sleep from 2 – 10 AM and get ready for class then. I wasn’t reading back then, like at all, so it was easy to get lost online for hoooours without feeling like I SHOULD be reading.

My journey to becoming a morning person definitely started when Chris and I moved into our current apartment. His hours at work are much different from mine (7-3:30 vs. 9-5) so he gets 1-2 hours of alone time every night after work, before I come home. I determined that I deserved some “me time” as well, so I started trying to go to sleep earlier and waking up earlier. Here are some of the things I’ve learned along the way.

1. You don’t really NEED to stay up late, ya know.

I loved being up late for some reason. Always peaceful, just watching shows or reading before bed. I found that the longer I stayed up, the more I would fall out of my “tiredness” and catch a second wind. No one needs a new burst of energy at midnight. Letting yourself sleep earlier when you’re actually tired – before that refreshed/wide awake feeling happens – is so much better on your body. Seriously.

There’s so much less to see on the internet after midnight. I used to read a lot or watch shows, but I’d still find myself reaching for my phone to check social media a million times. So many unnecessary LuLaRoe purchases have happened after midnight for me!

2. You can do all of your late night things in the morning.

I started to think, what is the benefit of sitting here in the dark while Chris is asleep? I have to be extra quiet to not wake him up, feel bad if my light is on too late, and hate the noise of the TV happening too loudly in the background. WHY do all of this at night when I could do it in the morning, FREELY, because he’d be gone? I can watch TV and read books in the morning very easily. In fact, even easier. I can use my light to read. I can listen to the TV with higher volume and no subtitles on. I can do allll of those things while sipping my coffee.

3. Alone time in the morning is the best way to start your day.

I hate feeling like I have to jump out of bed and get ready for work right away. It’s the worst. I want to wake up and start my day on the right foot… by doing something for me. This could be catching up on a show or reading my book or doing stuff in my planner. You know how they say your attitude forms your life? Sending bad vibes into the world only brings bad vibes back to you. I tend to believe the same is true about how you start your day. Starting it in a way that makes YOU happy is the best way to have a good day. Because it just makes sense!

My Morning Routine, In a Perfect World

My goal is to always give myself AT LEAST an hour in the morning. There have been some times I’ve pushed it and only had a half hour (which I loathe) and other times I get up at 5:00 and have TWO hours (the dream). If I give myself 1-2 hours, I can usually squeeze in everything I want to do without problems.

Coffee first. I will always have coffee before anything else. I may browse my phone for five minutes if I’m feeling cozy, but I will pretttty much get out and get coffee before touching another object in the morning.

Read a book. I know that starting with a TV show will lead me into a binge-spiral on Netflix. I can never stop watching if that’s what I start with. I have to read first because usually, unless the book is flawless/addicting, I’ll be able to set the book down to enjoy a show or two.

Watch a show or two. I like to leave 20-40 minutes for 1-2 shows right before getting in the shower. I also can never stop in the middle of an episode so I have to make sure there’s enough time to get the whole thing in before having to hop in the shower.

Daily planning with a casual show in the background. Depending on need or timing, I’ll spend a little time working on my planner while Friends plays in the background. I can’t really focus on writing/planning when there’s a show I’ve never seen on in the background. It needs to be an repeat I can half pay attention to.

Shower and get ready while listening to my audiobook. Once I finally vacate the bed (worst feeling), it’s time to get ready for work. I always do this with an audiobook playing because it helps keep me focused on something a little more fun than putting my makeup on.

What do you think? How do you start your day?

If you’re in the mood for another post similar to this, you can read about my ideal weekend here!

13 responses to “Becoming a Morning Person & My Routines

  1. My husband and I kind of have the same situation. His work hours are earlier than mine, so he goes to bed earlier than me and is out of the house before I even get up. Of course I love being around him, but I also like having “alone time” once in awhile. I catch up on shows he doesn’t like, and I have quiet reading time. My mornings are spent working out and doing a small bit of reading. I too usually give myself about an hour before I have to go to work.

  2. I’m snoozing in bed by 10.30 pm too, and I wake up at about 5.30 am even though I don’t have to wake up that early. I’ll use that time to read my book in bed. Though it is hard lately, because it’s so dark and cold, and I just want to go back to bed. When I was taking this big exam in secondary school, I used to wake up every day at 3 am to study. I got so much done then and I love how much time I have the rest of the day then.

  3. Woohoo! I’ve been waiting for this post 🙂 It really has a huge impact on my day whether I’ve been able to relax and do things for myself in the morning or not. There are definitely days where I really *want* to stay in bed but I always remind myself that I’ll end up being grumpy if I don’t take advantage of the time I could be using. My husband is the night owl! I don’t mind if he keeps a light on or anything because after getting up at 5, I am PASSING OUT by 10:30-11PM no matter what’s going on around me lol!

    • Absolutely! I get so grumpy when I keep sleeping. I always regret it that night when Chris is bugging me and I’m trying to read.. like I should have done this earlier!! hahaha. That’s a good point too! You’re actually tired when you need to go to bed 🙂

  4. I started to become a morning person when I started working ungodly early. When I first graduated college, I started work around 8, and I thought that was dreadfully early. Then I started having regular 7am meetings, so I started work around 6:30. Now I live 45 mins from work (without traffic), so I leave super duper early to BEAT the traffic. I get there around 5:30. All of this means I wake up before 4.

    I would LOVE to have a morning routine similar to what you just described; I used to, back when I got a little bit more shut-eye. Now I do the evening prep and unwind so that I don’t feel super rushed / forgetful in the morning!

  5. I really want to be a morning person, but I just haven’t managed to get there at the moment. It really doesn’t help that I’m not a winter person, and the lack of sunshine and the cold makes me want to hibernate all the time. But after reading your post, I definitely want to keep giving it a shot! I think it would just be so wonderful to have time to have coffee, read and not have to rush through my morning routine in general.

  6. I’ve always been a morning person…well all of my adult life anyway. I do agree that it’s important to have me time and early morning me time is the best! Now we have kids so morning me time doesn’t happen as much as I’d like. Getting that morning quiet time with my coffee and (usually) my laptop always make my day feel a bit brighter.

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