I am not a morning person. Last summer, I tried running a couple times before work, and it was terrible. All the neighborhoods were still dark and the streets were abandoned (pretty similar to a scary recurring dream I've had for years). I ate a rice cake with peanut butter on it and half a banana but still felt sick after a couple of miles. While I'm pretty good at not repeatedly snoozing the alarm, I just find that I am most productive at night, when my eyes are not heavy and itchy from sleep and I'm not trudging around from lack of breakfast and coffee. Mornings are hard, which will sound strange when I suggest...
...that you should get up twenty minutes earlier than you usually do.
For the last few weeks, I've been waking up 20-30 minutes earlier than I normally do to go sit on my porch with a mug of coffee and bowl of granola to write and read. And it's been wonderful. The sun is rising and the early morning steam is lifting off the streets as couples walk their dogs and climb in their cars to go to work. I can take a moment to look at the leaves rustling in the great trees overhead and consider how I'm going to take on the day. I can pray and read and set my course instead of existing off pure emotion. Hearts are tender in the early morning, and it's easy to get lost in the feeling of a bad dream or a stressful thought.
It's made it easier, setting my alarm at night, to know there's more to look forward to in the morning than getting ready for work. It's a sacred and saved piece of space that I can call mine and has only made each day better. Even if you dislike mornings, I encourage you to give it a try.
