The alarm goes off. You groan, roll over, and hit snooze. 10 minutes later you do the same. And maybe a few more times. By the time your feet finally hit the floor, enough time has passed that now you’re running behind. If you’ve got kids, they’re likely requiring your attention at the same time you are trying to shower and get yourself ready for the day, chug some coffee, make lunches, ensure the pets are fed, etc. Sound familiar? If you’re like me, you’ve lived this chaos for far too many mornings. It makes for forgetfulness, irritability, and a lack of any quality time as you are beginning your day.
Now, same scene. The alarm goes off. Even though your warm, cozy bed is calling you, you make the choice to get up. Because you haven’t procrastinated or tried to get a few more minutes of sleep, you have more time in your morning. You can choose to stretch, do a morning workout, meditate, read, or drink a cup of coffee or tea while relaxing. And you will have more time to get yourself ready before the rest of the house gets up and bustling.
Look, I know this is hard to do. You’re reading this written by a person who was (and, admittedly, still is sometimes) a classic “snoozer”. I’d go back to bed so many times, I may as well have just set my alarm for an hour later to begin with. But you know what I noticed? I never felt better or more rested upon my final wake up than I did with my initial wake up. I still felt groggy and tired and just wanted to flop back down. I started thinking to myself, well, if I’m tired regardless, I may as well try to get up early and be productive. I was sick of flying from one room to another trying to get myself ready, throwing something at my son at the last minute for breakfast, not having us sit down together as a family, and missing out on the morning. I felt frazzled, stressed, cranky, and guilty.
Once I started getting up earlier, I felt more accomplished, put-together, and not nearly as prone to arguments or meltdowns. I don’t work out every morning, but I feel so much better when I do. It gets my muscles limber, my blood flowing, and it feels so much better than walking around like a zombie and stiff the first part of my day because I just couldn’t get myself to move. Some of my favorite morning time workouts have been TurboFire and Turbo Jam, if I’m looking for something to really get me pumped up (and I LOVE Chalene Johnson. She feels like a coach who is demanding but accommodating and encouraging, and I always feel like she’s really speaking to me when she tells me she’s glad I came to work out LOL) or Tony Horton’s Fountain of Youth Yoga workout, a bonus workout that now comes with P90X, if I’m looking for something a little more low-key. If you have the time and stamina, you can also check out the P90x 90 minute Yoga workout, whereas Fountain of Youth is 60 minutes. Or, of course, you can do a workout of your choosing. Get INSTANT ACCESS to P90X, TurboFire, and more by CLICKING HERE!
Now, on the days I make myself get up, I can feel better than I made some time to work out, I get a shower in and can be dressed, making breakfast, and have lunches ready when my son wakes up. This allows my husband to have time to get ready for work (when I don’t get up, he takes over caring for our son, so it doesn’t free up time for him to have a productive or enjoyable morning either) and everyone is in a much better mood to start our day. I’ll take that over a few more “snoozes” any day.
