When I was a little kid, I looked forward to the morning. During the school year, it was something I—nerd that I am—enjoyed and looked forward to. In the summer months, it meant long days under sunny, blue skies and days spent running around for the sheer joy of it. It was my favorite part of the day.

These days, though, I sometimes want to pull the covers back over my head and ignore the alarm clock. It’s not just the unusually rainy summer we’ve been having in northern Minnesota this year. It’s the news, every day, telling some new tale of loss and despair from yet another corner of the world. Those tales used to come from far off, other parts of the world I know from high school geography classes. But as of late, the news comes from our own nation’s doorstep. Black Lives Matter and police shootings have become common-place in the fodder for conversation over cups of coffee.

Sometimes it seems easier to just stay there, warm and safe in bed, ignorant of the reality that has become the norm. Wrapped up in a cocoon of blankets, nothing can hurt you (or so it seems). You can pretend that nothing is wrong.

So, why should you get out of bed? Drag yourself out of that sense of security and step into the cool morning air that makes you wish you hadn’t moved in the first place? Well, for starters, our lives take place outside of our beds. Outside of our homes, we have jobs and parties and plans. It simply isn’t possible to live a life without getting up in the morning.

The times we are living in can be trying; the simple lifestyle of prior generations has been replaced by this fast-paced one that makes each day fly by in a blink. Whether tears for a global catastrophe are shed within the confines of that blink is something only determined by the day itself. Regardless, it’s better to meet each day on your feet, standing strong against the coming obstacles.

Speaking of obstacles, that can sometimes be the hardest part. But knowing about them and getting up despite their presence is all the more power to you. Small or large, inconsequential or significant, the problems we face day-to-day make our lives, well, ours. No singular problem is the same to any two people. Waking up and facing those issues can provide more of a purpose to our days, if we need more to pull us out of bed.

So, back to the point. I wake up every morning, blinking my eyes open to a reality I may not always like. There comes that moment of indecision, wherein I must decide between embracing the hazy blanket of sleep clinging to my brain and body, begging to be embraced once more, or sitting up to clear the last drowsy cobwebs of oblivion. And then I swing my legs, plant my feet, stand. Morning is here.

Of one thing I can be certain of in these uncertain times. The morning may dawn cloudy and raining, much like this one. But there is always the possibility of the sun emerging later, when the world no longer cries for what it has lost. That is why I wake up every morning.