How to enjoy your mornings
A few weeks ago a friend asked me how I manage to wake up so early everyday and actually enjoy it – which is what gave me the idea for this post. I am a self-confessed morning person and I truly believe that waking up earlier improves my productivity and overall wellbeing. However, it is quite difficult to train yourself to love mornings and so today I thought I’d share my tips & tricks for becoming a morning person and learning to actually like waking up early!
It won’t happen overnight.
Excuse the pun, but this is a very important point to make. If you are normally waking up at the latest you possibly can before work or uni and resenting the sound of your alarm clock, you can’t just turn into a morning person overnight. It takes time and quite honestly you have to train yourself to wake up earlier and actually like it. I’d recommend setting your alarm earlier gradually; starting off with half an hour and so on until you get used to the earlier start. Eventually you will be training your body clock to wake up naturally at your preferred time which makes it far easier to get up in the morning!
Get to bed at a sensible time
This seems like an obvious point, but honestly getting into the routine of going to bed earlier was a major turning point for me becoming a morning person. Of course it is going to help by giving you extra time in bed, but also getting to bed early just helps to relax and de-stress after a long day. I normally get into bed by around 9pm (no judging! I am a bit of a grandma, I know) and then either read or watch some Netflix before going to sleep between 10pm & 11pm. I set my alarm for between 6-7am and this is more than enough sleep for me!
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day
I couldn’t agree more with this classic statement! I am a breakfast lover and it is often my biggest motivation for getting out of bed in the morning. Planning out a substantial breakfast will not only give you something to look forward to when you go to sleep but also give you a lot more energy after you wake up! My Apple & Cinnamon Baked Oats Recipe is super easy but very filling (& healthy!) if you’re looking for inspiration.
Change your attitude towards your alarm clock
I know an alarm clock can seem like more of a death knell at times, but by changing your attitude towards that wake up call you can get into a much better mindset in the morning. I always name my alarms something motivating, like “Goodmorning, have a good day!” or if I’m feeling more sassy, “Make coffee & get shit done!”. It’s a little thing, but it can really help. Also just thinking of getting up earlier as a positive thing can help: think of the extra things you can get done, the lovely breakfast you can take more time over or the lack of stress you’ll have when you have more time to get ready. It means you’ll see getting up earlier as a good thing, rather than an unpleasant necessity!
So that was all of my tips for being a morning person! Like I’ve said before, it does take some time to actually start enjoying waking up early but once you do it really does change your life for the better. Also on a side note – I was a bit nervous for using these photos as this is GENUINE ‘just woken up’ face & hair! Hopefully you don’t mind the lack of glam too much!
I’ve started to post an Instagram photo every morning as well as in the evenings, so if you’d like some morning motivation/escapism follow me here! I love scrolling through Instagram in the morning when I wake up, so I thought I’d start contributing to the early-bird content.
Do leave me any tips you have for being a morning person in the comments below! x