Up until this point in my life, I would NOT say I was a morning person. In fact, anyone and everyone who knew me would emphatically agree with you that i was solely a night owl. My standard wake up time was 11 AM and anything that started before 10 AM made me feel like I wanted to bawl my eyes out. I remember telling my roommates that if I became president one day, my first act would be to ban anything that started before 10 AM. But boy has this semester changed my outlook on the mornings.

It all started last October when I registered for my classes. I wanted to have Fridays off but because of Spanish, which unfortunately is always Monday, Wednesday Friday, I decided to sign up for classes on those days only. I got my wish and had Tuesday and Thursday completely open. The only downside to that was in order to fit my classes into three days as opposed to four or five was that they started at 9:05 AM and run until 1:10 with only 15 minutes between each one. Realizing this I almost had a panic attack but I decided to stick with it. I then decided that it would be a great idea to take on a nannying job from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM on Tuesday and Thursday. One half of my brain was screaming "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS" while the other half was silently writing in agony.

This being said, I would consider myself a person that likes to work out. I recently ran a half marathon and I try to do some sort of activity three times a week but with my current schedule, i felt like my only option was to go at 7 AM. This meant that I was going to have to get up at 6:30 and be somewhere at 7. I told myself that this was too early and did not go. the first weeks of the semester slipped by with me waking up at 8 AM and either going to class or nannying. Finally, my roommate, Kelsey asked me to go do a workout class with her at 7 AM. I refused at first but finally agreed. The first time we went I was blown away. I felt so much more aware in my classes and felt much more ready to start the day than I had the weeks before. I was hooked.

I can now proudly say that I've been waking up before 8 AM every weekday since the second week of school. I go to bed at a decent hour now and am slowly forcing myself to be a morning person. Now, sleeping in past 8 AM seems like a dream. It's still not easy most mornings and more often than not I find myself wanting to sleep in but if I can force myself awake I have much better day than I would have otherwise. I had 10,000 steps before noon today and that NEVER happens. All this goes to say that if I can do it, so can you. I challenge you this week to get up a little bit earlier than you usually would. You never know it might change your day!