Mornings have never really been “good” for me, and I’ve spent so much of my life thinking that there was no way I’d ever be a morning person. I’ve always been a night owl, staying up late to burn the midnight oil on a blog post or catching up on the latest Netflix show I’ve been binge watching over a few glasses of wine. But I’ve been changing my tune on mornings, and slowly but surely, I’ve been finding a way to love them again – even when my alarm wakes me up at 6 AM, which is my new version of normal.

I always asked people how they managed to become morning people. Some of my friends are those rare birds who are able to go to bed at midnight and wake up at 5AM, because for some reason they can survive off of only a few hours of sleep each day. I on the other hand need a solid 8 hours plus in order to be a semi-functional person who’s able to send emails that make even a smidgen of sense. Oh, and I also need coffee – lots and lots of coffee.

When I recently switched jobs, part of the big change for me was waking up at the early hour of 6AM to commute out to the suburbs to start work at 8AM. I’m usually a 9:30 AM – 7PM at work kinda gal, so this was definitely a BIG change for me, and my Monday-Friday lifestyle. Rather than staying up late, I found myself getting tired by 9PM, and my mornings are now spent eating breakfast, drinking coffee, and listening to some podcasts on my way to the office. Not a bad change, but definitely a big change in my day-to-day life.

There have been a few things that have made waking up during the weekdays so much easier, {and believe me, it means a lot that I’m even considering myself a morning person now, because I was definitely the opposite over the last 28 years…}. Here are a few of the ways that I’ve made waking up earlier a little easier. 

1. Find an App That Gets Your Booty Out of Bed: As the #1 lover of the snooze button, I never thought I would be able to pop out of bed in the mornings. It used to legitimately take me an entire hour to wake up in the morning (snooze X5}, so I needed to find a better way to wake up. I discovered Kiwake from Jess’ blog post a few months back, and I decided to give it a go {even with the $2.99 app store price tag!}. And to be honest, it’s totally changed the game for me.

In a nutshell, Kiwake wakes you up in the morning physically and mentally, by giving you a series of tasks to motivate you to get out of bed. First, the alarm going off and Kiwake gives you up to 3 minutes to snooze, which is short enough to not actually fall back asleep. Then it asks you to take a photo of something outside of your bedroom {which you match with a photo you take when you set the alarm}. I take a photo of Tom and I that’s in my living room, which makes me get out of bed, walk down the stairs and then snap a photo. Next, it asks you to play a quick mind game, either remembering a color or shape sequence to make sure your brain is mostly awake. And then lastly, you type in a motivation for waking up, which for me is making it to work on time. For someone who’s never considered herself a morning person, this app has definitely made getting up earlier much less painful.

2. Less TV, More Reading: My routine before bed usually consisted of being glued to my computer or my TV, catching up on social media or my latest TV obsession before heading to get some hay. These days, I’m trying to cut down on my screen time to make it easier to fall asleep, while also relaxing my body before bedtime. I joined a book club recently, and it’s been a huge motivator for me to read more – and even though I can usually only fit in about 10 pages before I crash, it’s much better than watching Parenthood until 1AM!

3. Prepare Yourself: If you’re still not a bounce-out-of-bed morning person, then make sure you’re prepared for the day ahead so you can get as much shut-eye as possible. I’ve been laying out my clothes the night before, meal-prepping lunches, packing my work-bag and getting everything ready before sleeping so I can grab my bags and head to work bright and early. I even have a box full of snacks in my car just in case I don’t have time to make breakfast before my day begins.

4. Hi, Coffee! Getting tired throughout the day is no joke, especially when you change your morning routine. I’ve been drinking more coffee and tea than ever before, and honestly it’s made my days a lot more bearable when I know I need to wake up early. I usually bring a coffee on the road and have a few mid-afternoon teas to pep myself up throughout the day. If you have anything else that you eat or drink to keep you energized, please share – I’m all ears!

5. Establish a Routine: They say it takes 21 days to form a habit, and I’ve definitely been working through finding my own during these earlier days. One thing that has helped is consistently waking up around the same time, even on the weekends, so it’s not such a terrible change in my routine from Sunday morning to Monday morning. While it’s a little harder to go to bed earlier on a Saturday night, it makes the week after so much more enjoyable in the long-run.

6. Go to Bed Earlier: I know this is an “oh duh” comment, but you really can’t wake up earlier if you don’t consistently go to sleep earlier. I’ve naturally been exhausted around 9:30/10 PM every night, so I’ve been making it a priority to get in bed my 9:30 every night in order to wake up at 6AM. And honestly, I don’t really feel like I’m missing out on that much so far since my late nights usually involved TV shows or spending an extra hour scrolling through Instagram – both of which are not quite as essential to my daily routine as I previously thought 😉

So…if you’re an early morning riser and have more suggestions on how to make waking up earlier less painful, I’d love to know your thoughts and suggestions! Please share – I’d love some tips! xx

Photo #2 via my sweet friend, Lauren Kelp <3