“That moment when you wake up early in the morning to get something done, then you’ll end up convincing yourself it’s not important.”

Do you bounce out of bed in the morning happy and excited like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh?  Or are you a slow moving, snooze button loving, can’t seem to wake up even though I am trying, and don’t you dare turn on that light, non-morning person?

I would definitely fall into the latter of those two descriptions.  I am NOT a person who does well waking up in the mornings.  And even though I have had to wake up early for the majority of my life due to my work schedule, I can honestly say that I pretty much hate every moment of having to wake up early and get out of my wonderful snuggly bed in the morning.  I seriously LOVE my bed! So when the alarm goes off in the morning I literally hit snooze no less than three times before I force myself to lift off the covers and step out of my bed.  Then I stumble to the bathroom and into the shower in the hope that the water will help me wake up.

Trust me when I tell you that I am not proud of the fact that I am not a good morning riser, quite the contrary.  I am so envious of those people who bounce out of bed in the morning happy as a clam, all rip roaring ready to take on the day with a smile.  I would LOVE to be more like that.  So the question is how do I get there??

I did a little research on the subject and here is what I found as recommendations to help us rise better in the morning:

At the Golden Bear Sleep Research Center they teach the R.I.S.E. U.P. method for waking up:

Refrain from snoozing
Increase activity for the first hour
Shower or wash face
Expose yourself to sunlight
Upbeat music
Phone a friend

Another thing that I have found works for me is to put the alarm clock across the room so that I have to get up and out of my snuggly covers to turn it off.

I also think consistency in a schedule helps a ton.  If I can get to bed and wake up at the same time on a regular basis I find that my body naturally wakes up at the time I need to without the dread of the alarm clock.

If I have something in the morning that I am waking up for that I am excited about I find it is much easier to get out of bed those days.  So perhaps having something you can look forward to each morning will help as well.

And ultimately I think the best trick for getting yourself to wake up early is to remember this quote:

“Every morning you have two choices:  Continue to sleep with dreams or Wake up and chase your dreams, the choice is yours…”

Tomorrow morning bounce out of bed early and get your TIGGER on for the day!  Have a great day everyone.

~Amy