Recently I have been seeing this borderline obsession with waking up early and morning routines. On more than one occasion I have found myself watching with fascination as successful entrepreneurs, business people, and other professionals show their morning routines on wellness platforms. The wellness industry relates morning routines and waking up early to its platform with the idea that if you wake up early and get a lot done you are more productive and somehow more “well” and maybe even just a better person in general. This sentiment permeates way beyond the wellness industry. If you are a young professional you have probably had someone brag to you about how early they wake up or everything they have accomplished in the morning. While it can be really annoying to be on the receiving end of that conversation it can also make you feel inadequate and bring about comparisons. I am guilty to say I have been on both ends of the conversation.
This widespread notion that waking up early and getting a lot done before the workday is morally superior is dangerous and antithetical to wellness for a couple of reasons. The first, is that it is not fact-based. The second is people have different energy levels and the third is that no one should be making someone feel bad about themselves.
Personally I have much more creative and physical energy in the first half of the day. I do not love to wake up super early but I always feel a lot better when I do. I can talk a little bit about what helps me with my mornings but I really want to emphasize what works for me probably will not work for you. Beam Well is all about embracing what makes you authentically you and not giving in to trends and societal pressure. Morning Routines are no different. There are a bunch of benefits of morning routines and waking up early. Find one or two that resonate with you and then build your morning routine off of WHY. If you cannot find a why...maybe you do not need an elaborate morning routine and you can stop reading :)
YOUR WHY:
Productivity
This one is usually the go to. If you have too much to do in a day and cannot fit everything in at night, waking up early can be a good time to check some more boxes off of your to-do list. I would advise you to self-reflect how important waking up early and checking off those boxes are and if you really are more productive in the morning and accomplishing tasks or it is just a trend you are giving in to. Also reflect if you need to be productive. Productivity is not a virtue.
More Energy
Humans are genetically predisposed to fall into one of the three categories: “Night Owl” “Early Bird” or “Intermediate”. If you have ever done a DNA test they may have guessed when you naturally are inclined to wake up. Sure there are factors that can effect this, including lifestyle and culture, but there is also some innate part of you that is one of the three categories. Pay attention to where you fall on this scale and where you get energy. If you get energy in the morning you may want to take advantage of that part of the day but if you get your energy at night, then waking up early will not help you and actually could hurt you.
Less Anxious
Waking up early can make you feel ahead of the day and less anxious about what is to come. If you can have a relaxing morning with a routine then it may set up your entire day to feel like you have more control. I think this is also about the quality of your morning routine and not quantity. If this is your main why, try and really narrow in on one or two things you can do in the morning to lessen the anxiety, including a five minute meditation or breathing exercise.
Feel Good
Waking up early can feel good and for a lot of people is really the time to do some self-care. If you do something you love in the morning like drinking a coffee alone, reading the newspaper or a chapter of a book it can feel really nice to be actively enjoying leisure time.
Others
If everything I listed above has absolutely no connection to you, but you have to wake up early because it's the only time you can fish or your dog needs to go for a walk or you need some peace and quiet from your kids, that is cool, this is the bucket for you.
Personally, I started waking up early my freshman year of high school when a friend said they studied before class. I tried it out and LOVED IT. Which is kind of weird for a 14 year old but whatever. I was so much more focused on the material and it felt so peaceful being awake before everyone else. I felt like I had complete control over my time and less distractions. Looking back, the realization I had was that I got my energy in the mornings. I have carried this with me throughout my life and whenever I need to accomplish a big task I like to wake up early to do it. My second awakening (no pun intended) with waking up early and morning routines had a lot to do with my love for running. The early mornings were one of the only times I could fit it in my schedule. I could never run at night (well I could but I hated it) because I would get demotivated and dread it the entire day. Waking up to run was a way for me to harness my energy early. A morning run always felt ten times better than a night or afternoon run. The act of waking up has never been easy for me but what I got out of it is worth it. For me, waking up any time before 7 AM is a struggle. I find that once I get into a routine it is easier, but I still am not naturally inclined to wake up that early. When I was waking up at 6 AM to run a really great trick to get me out of bed would be to have something to directly look forward to. For me it was 30 minutes reading the news and drinking coffee before I went on my run. This helped getting out of bed not be a chore.
I used to feel so guilty if I slept in. I would also secretly (or not so secretly, my bad) judge people who slept in. It’s unfair to myself and everyone else to have that attitude. A morning routine or early start to a day should make you feel better, but the danger is putting it on a false pedestal. By putting so much emphasis on morning routines and waking up early and associating that with happiness and successfulness the wellness industry might be doing more harm than good in making everyday people feel inadequate. Sleeping in is a great luxury and pleasure of mine and many others. No one should feel less than, lazy or unsuccessful because they want to sleep in or because they do not get their energy in the mornings. As always, do what makes you beam and align with what feels good :)
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