Saturday, September 27, 2014

The Benefits of Waking Up Early


I enjoy waking up early. Scratch that, I LOVE waking up early. I'm one of those people who most non morning people want to slap and tell them to go back to bed. There's something about the stillness of the morning. Seeing the sun rise is such a relaxing way to wake up. 

Get this: I actually look forward to my alarm going off at 5:30 am. Pretty sick and twisted eh? 

If I wasn't so afraid of coyotes and other wildlife like mountain lions that have moved down into the valley to find food, I would get up early and run out our back door on the canal. But, I don't think I could outrun such wildlife. So instead I'll enjoy my mornings from the sofa, coffee in hand, blanket on lap and just listen to the world wake up. It comes to life by 6:45-7am. And I don't mean the IT's sleeping in their rooms.


So what are the benefits of waking up early you ask? 

-Quiet time. If you wake up before anyone else in your house, you get to experience the most calm part of the day. 5:30 happens to be early enough for me so I can have a good hour before Thing 1 aka Kate wakes up. 

-Sunrise. You know all those fabulous sunrise photos you see on Instagram and Google? Well ya can't capture that kind of beauty waking up after 7am! (Not here anyway) One of my all time favorite things to see is when the night becomes morning. It allows my brain to wake up slowly instead of in a shocking instant to a kid swinging open my bedroom door only to stand and stare at me until I get up. 

-Time. Waking up early gives you extra time in your day. I love feeling like I'm getting the most out of my day. I see the sun rise and set. Its a very rewarding feeling to know I'm getting everything out of the day that I want.


-Early rising gives me a prepared, ready-for-the-day kind of feeling. If I can wake up, drink my coffee, catch up on social media, read the Bible and/or pray, I feel I'm ready for whatever mood my kids wake up in. I'm alert and ready to make sure they have everything they need for school and I feel I am awake enough to handle if someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. 

I can't describe what exactly getting up early does for me so I challenge you to wake up half an hour to an hour earlier for one week. See what it does for you and let me know! Feel free to tell me I'm one of the select few who enjoy waking up early on purpose if it's just not your thing. :-)

Have an amazing weekend everyone!!

6 comments:

  1. When I was younger I hated to wake up early, despised it actually. But when I got into running and training waking up early became inevitable. Fortunately, once I am up and out the door and going I actually REALLY enjoy being up early.
    I love my sleep though, so it's still never easy to lift my head off the pillow when the alarm goes off. But it's much easier to wake up to run and enjoy some as you said it, ME TIME, than it is to wake up early and head into work:)
    Beautiful pictures! And your right, if you wake up early it really does make you feel like your getting the most out of your day! I say this as I slept in until 11am this morning.. yeah.. LOL Yeah I pretty much slept way too much of this day away!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks!
      Sometimes we need some extra sleep! I know getting up at 5:30 won't always be so appealing but for now I'm enjoying the me time. :-) I enjoy a power nap mid day sometimes too!

      Delete
  2. I was definitely not an early riser earlier in my life. But then I decided to make the effort to try to go to work early to beat the traffic and it has made my life so much easier! The office is so much quieter before 9 and I feel like I can get a good start on getting things done without a lot of interruptions. I don't keep it up necessarily on non-work days but I've re-set my body clock enough that it's almost impossible for me to sleep past 7 no matter how late I stay up the night before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's great! There's something about the stillness of the morning that I love! It's so relaxing!

      Delete
  3. I love waking up early. Time to yourself without the kids and quiet is priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great article! I love waking up early because it totally makes me feel more energized and ready for the day!

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy hearing from everyone so please, leave a comment!