Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Mornings, pt 1

Waking up is an incredibly difficult thing to do in certain circumstances. This morning I was laying in bed, which was cozy and warm under a thick, thick blanket. But my room is freezing. The temperature difference is almost enough to cause physical pain upon emerging from the organic shell of comfort that is my futon. No amount of motivation could get me out, especially not with the shit I had to do.

I’ve done several things to help me wake up more. The old classic for me was multiple alarms. I’d set one for an “ideal” time, and one for a “OH SHIT—but I can still make it” time just in case things went awry with the first one. I still do this nightly (this morning even the OH SHIT alarm eluded my efforts). Or, I’d try to trick myself by setting one alarm for twenty or thirty minutes before the second one—as a way for my morning self to somehow be more content by feeling like he received the gift of “bonus” sleep. I’ve also tried placing alarms at various points in my room, even hiding them to force myself out of bed. But I simply let them go, turn them off and go back to bed, or MacGyver together some scrap of random objects around me to use as a reaching device. Then there’s the Psychological approach I used—I spent several sessions lying in my bed with eyes closed (in the middle of the day while fully awake), then setting my alarm and springing up immediately when it went off. It was an attempt to condition my body to automatically respond to the alarm by snapping out from under the covers. But alas, my behavioralist scheme was no match for my desire to lay in bed.

I wonder what it is that makes my body believe it needs so much more sleep. I make my 6-8 hours of sleep every night a priority, so I cannot help but feel angry with my body for being so ungrateful. I would blame myself for simply not having the discipline to get up, but I feel as if my early-morning consciousness is somehow distinct from my wakeful consciousness. I don’t respond to things or act in a way that resembles my normal self, and I literally don’t remember most things that happen in my day until a good ten to fifteen minutes in. This morning is an absolute blur—the only reason I know I had a banana for breakfast is the leftover peel in the seat of my car, and the only reason I found my car was the revealing sound obnoxiously spurred by my remote panic button.

But I did make it on time. Relatively speaking, of course. I was able to instinctively avoid all unnecessary facets of my morning routine in order to most efficiently prepare myself for the suddenly imminent day. It’s an interesting process, and though my memory of it is a blur, I do realize that this happens more than I’d like to admit, and I believe it requires some further analysis.

This post has gone on long enough, though. I shall follow this up tomorrow with “Mornings, pt 2”

14 comments:

  1. Waking up is the hardest part of my day.

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  2. I didn't get up until noon today, I feel like shit for it.

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  3. I hate mornings. I literally can not get out of bed on the first alarm. I -have- to press snooze at least once, sometimes twice. Third time is me spoiling myself, but then I wake up with the above mentioned "OH SHIT!")

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  4. I'm lucky if I can get up before noon.

    radthad.blogspot.com

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  5. Its so weird, cause the days I actually make sure I get like 7-9 hours of sleep are the days I'm the most tired after! It seems like 5-6 hours are prime for me lol

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  6. Mornings and me do not get along I LOVE SLEEP! I usually drag my feet forever until i finally get moving. And coffee doesn't help me at all sadly! I am thinking of trying 5 hour energy but I am not quite sure how it will work

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  7. I actually have to set like 4 alarms in far spots throughout my room to get my bear ass out of bed. I swear I enter hibernation mode. One up high, down low, under the bed, etc. Understand completely.

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  8. I hate mornings. Once im up its fine but that intially feeling when the alarm goes of is the worst. defo following

    http://randomthingsmitch.blogspot.com/

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  9. try condition your body for a reason to get up which makes it a little easy like favorite cereal,song the best example is saturday cartoons when you were little if that was ur thing

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  10. I cannot do mornings. I need coffee or a smoke lol

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  11. Wow, I need a smoke to get through my morning haha

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