How to wake up happy

[Gurkour]

Hi!

I want to wake up and feel positive, to be happy about the new day. I want to think about all the potential the day has and what great things could happen today. Or maybe what things I can archieve.

BUT

I am waking up and feel the opposite. I dont want to get up so early, I dont want to know that I will, one hour after waking up, spend the next 10 hours (in the worst case) in school, just to come home to do school work. I dont want to get reminded about problems. And it is not getting better when I am opening the window to see a cold and rainy weather and I know it is dark when I leave and it will be dark again when I am coming home.

I dont want to depress you, so I guess you know what I mean.

By being demotivated I first play games or surf the internet after I come home, and by that a huge part of my daily 24 hours are gone.

Can you relate to this? Or have you even surpassed it?

My own thought on this:

- I need to change my mindset (hah that sounds easy ) - first be aware of the fact that only I can and will change my life and I need to get up for this and second (or by this) be more positive in general

- I need to get out of my comfort zone more often to experience the unknown (+be more open to new/be more spontanous. Sounds sill but I think by that I will wake up and be interested in the new adventures that could happen to me.

- I need to handle my tasks better - So I am not everhelmed in the moring and endup doing nothing. A thing I will try is to set 3 doable tasks per day to get rid of the "problemmountain" that is always above me

So, I hope you read this and will share your thoughts What do you think can help? What do you think is the most important in my list?

Have fun, Gurkour

[Raincloak]

fwiw, things that make me wake up happy include:

 

- getting enough sleep

- clean bedsheets and floofy pillows

- that stretchy feeling when you've had a good workout the day before

- the smell of breakfast/coffee (if you live alone, get a machine with a timer or whip up your own breakfast -- doesn't take too long with sufficient planage)

- bright full-spectrum light in your face.  If the sun's not up, get a nice lamp and invest in one of those strong white LEDs.  I have a lamp by my bedside which is half covered with a scarf (do not try this with an incandescent bulb or the cloth may catch fire).  When it's time to get up, I pull off the scarf and bam -- room brightens.  I guess if I wasn't such a cheapskate, I'd get an adjustable dimmer switch.

- awesome wake alarm music (I pick a song that gets me going and change it up every week or so)

- hot shower with pleasantly scented goo

- chanting a short morning prayer.  When I was a kid I learned one that's about 20 seconds long, it's not especially catchy but it reminds me to be grateful I'm alive to tackle another day.  It also helps nudge my brain into Drive, because a two-line song is easy to remember but not so easy I can do it in my sleep.

 

 

as for coming home; try to make sure the house is reasonably tidy and welcoming.  It's more depressing coming home to a messy, dreary house.  Get rid of clutter and put in as many lights as possible.  Try to plan something tempting for dinner (when I say "plan" I mean arrange it in advance, not when you walk in the door) so you're happy to be home.

 

Be organized at bedtime.  Do the homework, pack the bag, prep the breakfast and lunch, lay out the clothes if necessary.  I really hate early mornings and I want them to be as smooth as possible.  Like, "Didn't actually open my eyes until I was at the bus stop" smooth.  While you can go from zero to full throttle without too big a loss in performance, it gets things off to a stressful start and that just makes it harder to climb out of bed the next day and do it again.

 

also, did I mention getting enough sleep?  It bears repeating.  Get.  More.  Sleep.  Go to bed as early as you can possibly get away with.  Yes, this means less Internet and faster homework.  Deal with it.  Your precious brain is worth it.

[Elastigirl]

Mornings are tough,especially in the winter.

 

I have one of those lamps that simulates daylight. I turn it on while I fix breakfast and read my Bible in the morning. Having that really helps.

 

I would choose one productive thing to do first thing in the morning and do that for a couple of months until it is a habit.Then choose one more thing and add it, but not until thing one is truly habit. This may seem slow when you want to change all the things now, but building in new routines is tough. Now, it is just automatic, I get up read my Bible, make breakfast, and then tidy the kitchen. No willpower is wasted on these, they are just my habits now. But that didn't happen overnight it took time