I have never been a morning person. Or at least, that is the narrative I have lived by. I have always been a stay up late kind of gal whether it be because I can’t put down the book I’m reading, or I don’t want to go home yet when I’m out with friends. I have a lot of energy in the later hours of the evening, but recently, there’s been something nagging at me to make the switch to earlier rises.
As a fitness coach with a full time job, I was waking early to instruct, as my classes had to precede my 9-5 desk job. I woke up at 6am and went to work from 6:30-9:15 am to return home and log on to my computer. 6:00 am does not sound early for some, but as a recent graduate and newbie NYC resident, I was quite accustomed to 6:00 am bed times, not wake ups, and often I was still abiding by that sleep schedule on the weekends.
Needless to say, I was tired. I never allowed my body to get into a proper rhythm. I would be exhausted waking up at 6 on Monday morning having gone to bed at 6:00 am just 24 hours before. My body was confused to say the least. On top of that, I would be so tired after coaching and working my 9-5 that my workouts that were forced to be in the evenings would suffer.
Eventually, my studio brought even earlier classes in and I had to leave coaching (albeit temporarily) to give my 100% to my full-time career in health advertising. Since then, I have been able to wake up for my own early morning work outs and soon I became fixated.
I arrived in Miami and with 2 weeks of nothing but relaxation, work, the beach, and workouts, I could really focus on myself. Initially, I woke up early to beat the heat during my morning runs (read: make sure that none of my workouts were infringing on the prime UV time during my days off). Within a few days, I was waking up early because I was addicted to the feeling it gave me. I was watching the sunrise and going for walks, swims, runs, lifts, yoga, classes, all before half of the resort even stirred. I was waking up to read my book in the cool of the dawn. I was feeling like I was the only person on the planet, even for just a moment. I got hooked.
I have since been making 6-6:30am wakeups something that brings me joy and something I look forward to. I love getting out of bed when the sun is still below the horizon, grabbing my coffee, and making my way to the beach to read as the sun comes up. I love getting a sweat in before the day has even begun. That being said, it definitely helps that I get to wake up to warmth, a gorgeous view, and the beach (we’ll see how this goes when I get back to the city and winter starts to set in). But I think I’d like to be a morning person, and I think you just need to decide that you are. The beauty of being human is simply being able to decide what you want to do and the life you would like to live. There’s no such thing as being a morning person or a night owl. The reason these two are the categories we are given to place ourselves into, is because both are driven by the idea of productivity when part of the world is asleep. The human brain has extreme neuroplasticity. It has the ability to morph, change, and adapt. The popular idea is that it takes about 66 days to form a habit in which not doing something is harder than actually doing it. So, for 66 days we will be trying this pre 6:30am wakeup (sans a couple lie ins after long weekends).
And because I’m so hooked, I picked up The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma after listening to many podcasts on how it has “changed lives.” I just began reading it and will have thoughts in the next week or so. I’ll let you know if my wake up time shifts up, but right now, 5am is essentially nighttime for me so for now, we’re going to stuck with this goal of 6:30am or earlier.
Stay tuned.
Rach
RachLansFit 