These 5 Changes Made Me A Morning Person, Even Though Mornings Used To Make Me Want To Die
by Audie Metcalf
I have never enjoyed waking up.
While my head is still on the pillow, I play this little game with myself where I run through different scenarios, all of which create some path wherein I do whatever it is I need to do (feed the dog, walk the dog, feed the child, do the work, answer the email) and then slip back into bed for another 2-3 hours. It is this potential that allows me to rouse myself into semi-coherence and drag my body into the upright position. I never go back to bed of course, but the mere idea of it is essential.
Like I said. I do not enjoy waking up.
I tell you all of this to let you know what a truly extreme case I am, so that you can be convinced that my methods work. Because, reader?
I am now a morning person.
That might be a slight exaggeration. But I now wake up at 6:45 am, walk for 45 minutes, do a session of weight training, and don’t want to die!
The question is: how? Most of us have deeply embedded internal clocks, and I’ve always championed leaning into whenever you get your best work/thinking done. And for me that’s being a night owl. But my husband wakes up at 6am, as does my step-daughter for school, and our schedules all became too difficult to manage together. So I slowly worked on developing new habits in the hopes that I could shift my natural, nocturnal ways.
And I did.
A bunch of things I tried didn’t work, but 6 things really did work. And here’s exactly what they are:
1. A 45-minute walk first thing in the morning
I know. “Go on a long walk” is the single most annoying thing you have ever heard. Like, it’s one thing to be up early. It’s quite another to be up early AND have to exercise. Sickening. However, this walk is the very thing that makes the morning palatable. And it’s for 2 reasons:
1. Brisk walking actually wakes you up. If you want to take a big swig of coffee before you get out there, do it. But you’ll find it’s not even necessary. It’s literally energizing. I walk around my neighborhood very early in the morning before the sun starts to melt my face off.
2. Being outside, listening to bird calls, inhaling fresh air, I really hate to say this but it’s life-affirming. It creates a moment of connectedness and it’s an almost profound way to start your day. And it’s in this new emotional space where you will feel not only happy to be up and out of the house, but also reminded that you are someone who does things like this which is a powerful mindset shift. And which entirely changes the course and rhythm of your day.
You have kids, a job, a dog, 14 other things to do. A walk is just not easy to prioritize. Do it anyway.
2. Make the same breakfast every day.
I drink THIS in the morning for some protein, because I’m not a huge early-morning-hunger person. And then I eat breakfast around 11-12. And when I do, I make THIS. Every. Day. I don’t have to think about it, I know it’s gorgeously filling and balanced, and it takes seconds to prepare. It would be an ideal choice for your early morning breakfast if you ARE an early morning hunger person. Eating the same thing every day is PROVEN to set you up for success every day. Read about it HERE.
3. Put sneakers on the second you wake up.
It’s astonishing what this does. It just makes you a new person. The only sneakers I wear for my hugely wide feet are THESE sneakers. And they’re pink! THESE socks I hate to say are life-changing as well. I’ve never gotten socks from anywhere “real” before—just on Amazon or Old Navy. But these are like a full cushion for your feet, and they make walking actually enjoyable. I get the quarter length because apparently ankle length are “out” according to my child.
4. Pick up heavy things for a few minutes.
I’m not going to even say strength training. Or weights. Or any of those things which feel impossible to imagine doing in the morning. Just pick a few things up a few times. I pick up THESE heavy things and use THIS workout every other day. It’s fine. It’s not a big deal. I wear THIS mumu sometimes while doing it. It’s just picking heavy things up. I don’t dread it any more than I dread washing my face. It’s just a thing I do so I do it.
5. This isn’t really a step I just need to tell you about how steps 1-4 above will affect your sleep.
If you do everything I outlined above, you will be out like a light when your head hits the pillow. I start my evening process around 10:30 pm and am officially in bed around 11. And because I woke up early, and because I did my walk (I also walk in the evenings after it’s cooled down mostly because I was scared straight by THIS article we wrote) and because I lifted a few heavy things, I am tired. Tired. And when you are extremely tired, you will fall asleep and even better, stay asleep. And you’ll sleep well. Which means? When you wake up at 6:45am, you’re not as tired as you’d be without all of these steps. And so you create a cycle. And when you stay in that cycle, you realize you have the power to actually change your habits, which entirely affects your body, your brain, your health, your mood.
And then what you realize, after a week or so of doing this, you actually have the power to change your life. And with that realization, it suddenly becomes blazingly clear that there is nothing you can’t do.
Nothing.
Audie Metcalf is the Editor-in-chief of The Candidly, and lives in LA with her family. You can find more of her articles here.
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