I'm not entirely sure how I made it out of bed by 6:30 every morning in high school. Looking back, it seems like turning off my second alarm and leaving my bed was one of the hardest thing I've ever done, second only to staying awake through my morning classes. It seems like back then, it was all so hard. The weird part is, if I had to go back and do it again, I think I could. Not only that, I think I could do it better. Why is that? Because college has turned me into something I never thought I would become:
A morning person.
That's right, a morning person. The girl who whined through alarms, slept through showers, and didn't fully wake up until third period in high school is now someone who can't picture herself sleeping in past 8:30.
It all started the first semester of my freshman year. The earliest class I had all week started at 9:30, but my roommate had 8AMs 4 out of the 5 days of the week. Being friends, I offered to get up and have breakfast with her every morning before class. Voluntarily getting up at 7am and then staying awake waiting for my class to start was hard at first, but it gradually got easier. Not only that, I found that I actually kind of liked having that extra time in the morning before class. It either gave me a chance to finish up homework or to have some time to myself.
Slowly I started to want to get up early more and more. The following semester I took a 9am class, and found that even on days when I didn't have it I would still get up around the same 8:30 time. Even on weekends! Fast forward to this semester, and I've taken the plunge and taken an 8AM. I thought for sure this class would wreck me and that I would sleep through it most days, but it's actually much better than I thought. When my alarm goes off now I am able to get directly out of bed and start getting ready, and I actually have quite a bit of energy when I go to class. Not enough energy to make me that obnoxiously loud morning person, but enough to where I'm not struggling to stay awake. Now I don't get up at 7am when I don't have to, but I do get up at 8. I've gotten into the groove of getting up early and starting my day, which has really helped me learn to be more productive and manage my time better.
Now, becoming a morning person didn't just fit perfectly into my life. There were quite a few things that changed. For instance, I get tired a lot earlier than I used to. Without a nap, I usually start to get tired around 10 or 11pm. However, another new aspect of my life is that I've developed a taste for coffee (thanks to the two Starbucks we have on campus). The coffee helps me fight off naps, but when I don't drink it I find that I have a harder time than usually staying fully awake later in the day. Everything has its consequences, but in this case I think the good outweighs the bad.
In my head, I'm still not a morning person. A part of me still thinks I'm that high school kid that couldn't get out of bed and dragged butt up until lunch time, but I'm coming to realize that that isn't the case anymore thanks to college. I cherish my memories of days when I could sleep in and stay up late, but I guess all good things must come to an end eventually. I'm embracing my newfound morning peppiness, and hoping it will continue to help me in my quest to learn how to adult.
