What do you wake up to? Do you wake up to the news telling you that it’s a depressing day in a depressing world? Do you wake up to some irritating idiot who thinks he’s funny? Do you wake up to a jarring beep-beep-beep-beep? Or do you wake up to something that fills you with joy, laughter, happiness, excitement for the day and energy? If you do the latter – congratulations! I salute your wisdom.
What better way to start the day than being woken up by something joyful? Whether it’s children, cats, dogs, sunlight, music or the voice of a loved one it’s a wonderful thing to start the day feeling good. Now, I say this from the perspective of someone who has NEVER been a morning person! 7am is the middle of the night as far as I am concerned, and I have hated getting up ever since I was in school.
However, in recent years I’ve got better and better. I’m still a grouch in the morning – just don’t speak to me, and I’ll be fine – but I’ve found that much of my hatred of getting up is a matter of attitude, quality of sleep…AND what I wake up to. I admit, it does help that I work from home, and I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn, but even then, the insistent, jarring beep-beep-beep-beep would jolt me out of sleep with a racing heart and murder on my mind! Seriously, WHO would think that a good way to wake a person up is to beep at them?! Don’t even get me started on this, I could rant about it for hours.
The way you wake up is vitally important for setting the tone of your day. The very first conscious thoughts you have are as you wake up. Are they positive, happy, yay ‘oh what a beautiful morning’ thoughts, or ‘oh dear god, no, it can’t be that time already, where’s the snooze button and what idiot thought waking me up by beeping (or, worse, making that ‘meh, meh, meh’ noise) at me was a good idea?’ type thoughts?
Many years ago I got a CD player alarm clock, so I could wake up to my choice of music every morning – it instantly made the start of my day much better! Once I had the epiphany to create a CD of music consciously chosen to wake up to, it made the morning awakening process a joyous one. Over the years, I’ve found what really works for me is to start with something mellow, something that starts gently, a song you LOVE that is good to gently wake up to. (The loudest, most awakening tune you know is too jarring to kick you out of sleep. I know, I tried waking up to dance music for a while – it’s most disorientating!).
Depending on how quickly you generally get out of bed (it takes me anywhere between 2 seconds (bladder calling!) to, more often 10-20 minutes), bring the tempo of your morning CD up to match your getting out of bed time. I like a couple of lovely mellow songs, like “Feeling Good”, “Lovely Day”, then something more up tempo, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, something that I cannot lie down to, so it gets me up and dancing.
I hadn’t realised how strongly I felt about this subject until last year, my friend told me that she woke up every day to a ‘beep-beep-beep-beep’ style alarm clock, and I was HORRIFIED. I waxed lyrical about the joys of a ‘Wake Up CD’ (or wake up playlist these days I suppose) for about 25 minutes, and was so moved by her plight that I went out the next day and bought a CD alarm clock for her.
It might sound a bit trivial, or insignificant, but as a non-morning person, I can tell you that the way you wake up can make or break your day. Picture it: The alarm goes off with an offensive noise, waking you up with a scowl on your face and a racing heart. Suddenly you’re awake, no chance to get used to the idea, no gentle awakening, just BAM! GET UP!
Alternatively, you wake up to the sound of the introductory notes of your favourite song. Before you are even fully awake, you have a smile on your face and are allowing the beautiful music to wash over you as you gently, happily, joyously wake up. the music gradually gets faster and faster, until you leap out of bed, dancing and singing as you make the bed and go to get on with your day.
Don’t try telling me that’s not extraordinarily important.
– Something to Play With –
What do you wake up to? Is it inspiring? Does it fill you with joy? If so, tomorrow morning, revel in that feeling of joy and wonder for 30 seconds before you get up. If not, what can you change today to make tomorrow morning a more beautiful morning? Want to share your thoughts on this article? Leave me a comment below.
Love
Donna.x
Comments
6 responses to “OnTheBeach: Wake Up It’s a Beautiful Morning”
Oh bless him! That’s tough for you guys!!! My friends’ daughter had the same habit for a while, which she’s now broken since she started pre-school…and my friend now misses her wake up calls (although she appreciates the extra hour’s sleep too!!!). Lol – no I’ve never heard of a runaway alarm clock?! x
Oh how lovely Deb! xxx
Since my daughter and grandson moved in a few weeks ago, I don’t need an alarm. . I wake up to the sound of a toddler’s laughter most mornings. I can’t wait to get downstairs and find out what he’s doing.
Hi Donna! I agree wholeheartedly that this is extremely important. Unfortunately, I have little control over how I awaken. You see, my 3.5 y/o son wakes up between 5:30 and 6:00AM every day yelling for me and my husband. I think he just wants to see us and enjoys waking this way, but ouch! I am sure we can work on it, but it is not yet solved. I see it affecting both me and my husband. We’re just a little more frazzled than the average person some days. By nature, I am a morning person, so I have a little padding because I tend to wake up in a good mood and I usually take off with my dog within a few minutes of waking. I look forward to him getting out of this habit. Have you heard of Clocky, the run away alarm clock? ; )
Crystal
Waves crashing is a spectacular way to be woken up Cassandra! x
I’ve never been a morning person. Sometimes I would sleep until after noon, but ever since I moved to an island and hear the waves crashing outside my house, I haven’t slept past 8 am. It also doesn’t hurt that there’s no alarm clock 🙂