Inside: Stop feeling guilty for not being part of the “5:00 a.m. Club” and learn to embrace not being a morning person.
The other morning my alarm clock went off at 6:30 am. I hit the snooze button at least 3 times and then layed in bed for another 15 minutes, trying to talk my self into getting up. After all, I had to be a work by 8:00 am. Here’s the thing this is not an entirely rare occurrence.
In all fairness to myself, I was up until about 1:00 am working on things. I don’t know what it is but I always get this second wind around 9:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. I’m up late and then I, of course, don’t want to get up in the morning.
Forever I would feel guilty for not being a part of the “5:00 am Club”.
Every time I’d read one of these “How to Become A Morning Person” posts I would cringe just a little. I’d follow all the tips and tricks. Even if I did well, in the beginning, it never lasted and I’d quickly resume feeling bad about myself for sleeping in until 7:00 a.m.
Yes, it’s true there are a ton of benefits to being a morning person. I’ve read many testimonials of how women transformed their lives by learning to wake up early. These women talk about how much more productive they are as a result of rising early. There are stories of improving everything from parenting to having a cleaner more organized home.
I have tried to start my days bright and early, just to fail time and time again. I finally accepted the fact that it’s okay not to be a morning person. If you are one of those people that have no problem waking at the crack of dawn, more power to you, but for those of us that can’t quite get there, here’s how to embrace not being a morning person.
BELIEVE IT’S OKAY
There is so much hype about all the fantastic benefits of being a morning person we begin to believe we MUST get up early otherwise we are somehow failing if we sleep past 5:30 am
But here’s the thing, we are all different. We are all created uniquely and you shouldn’t beat your self up because you’re not a morning person.
Stop justifying why you are not part of the “5:00 a.m. Club” and please stop telling everyone you hate mornings. Be okay with your natural rhythms, it really is okay not to be a morning person.
YOU DON’T HAVE A REASON TO BE A MORNING PERSON
If you’re feeling guilty about not being a morning person, my question for you is why?
There is absolutely no reason to become a morning person just because you think you should or because others are doing it.
Trying to force yourself to get up at the crack of dawn just because you think your should is only going to accomplish unnecessary stress and negative feelings of guilt.
When seeking to change habits and start new routines you should have a reason or purpose behind it. Ask yourself what do I want to accomplish with this change? If you don’t have a specific reason, changing for the purpose of changing is an unnecessary complication. Let it go, sweet friend!
ESTABLISH REGULAR ROUTINES
The benefits touted over and over again from early risers is increased productivity. I mean if you wake up early than everyone else in the house for sure it’s gonna be easier to get things done that require zero distraction.
However, if you set up specific rhythms and routines for your day, the time you get up won’t make that much of a difference.
No matter what time you get up do your best to go to bed at a consistent time each night. As soon as you do get up, have a basic routine in place.
Will you shower in the morning or evening, will you get dressed before or after breakfast will you pick out clothes in the morning or evening before. You get the gist.
Having routines in place will help you maintain productivity throughout your day, not just the mornings. You can read more about the benefit of establishing routines.
DO SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF
New habits are only worth creating if they will benefit you. No matter how much you hear how a particular activity will benefit you it’s okay not to want to make it a habit.
I’ve tried to become a morning person and honestly, it just didn’t work for me. I didn’t find any added benefit to having my quiet time early versus a few hours later in the day. As an introvert alone time is vital for me, but instead of before everyone wakes, I just have my alone time after everyone goes to bed.
I couldn’t use the earlier time to catch up on housework because the noise would end up waking everyone else up.
Let me tell you it stinks to do the work of waking up early and then letting time go without doing anything worth waking up earlier for.
When we believe that we need to be a morning person without any clear benefit we set up an unreasonable expectation that somehow life will be miraculously transformed because we woke up at 5:30 am instead of 6:30 or 7:00 am. If the expectation can’t be met you’re going to give up anyway.
If you find early mornings valuable go for it! Just remember to go slow 7:30, 7:00 then 6:30. Get to bed at a decent hour, nothing is worth sacrificing your health for. You need your sleep and you’ll avoid self-sabotage if you get to bed early. Finally, make sure you are receiving a benefit by rising early.
I would love to hear, do you wake up before everyone else? Why or why not?
Caroline says
You definitely aren’t a morning person if you were thoughtful enough to not do chores in the morning that would wake everyone else up! One of the reasons I strongly dislike a lot of morning people is how they rarely try to respect that others may need to sleep in more than them so they clatter dishes and stomp around at the crack of dawn..but if I night owl so much as showers or makes the microwave beep at night then it’s a huge deal!