Wake Up Happy

My alarm woke me every morning in high school, but only Mom’s insistent urgings finally made my feet hit the floor and carry me to the bathroom. I locked the door, turned on the shower, and often gave in to the lure of the fuzzy rug placed enticingly in front of the heat vent. “Just until the water heats up,” I would tell myself as I laid down on it.

Truth is, some mornings still find me looking longingly at the rug in front of the kitchen sink that just happens to have a heat vent next to it. My husband follows my gaze and laughs because he’s lived with me long enough to know what I’m contemplating.

I haven’t become a morning person, but I have transformed since those high school days.

My foggy, last-minute routine began wearing on me. I finally began to face the fact that mornings aren’t going away, nor is the need to be clear-headed and competent during the hours that have an “a.m.” after them. Small changes led to the me of today—a mom of high schoolers who could suggest we institute “family breakfast” during soccer season to ensure a daily time our whole family could gather at the table. A family breakfast that required mom—me—to cook for the family at 5:30 a.m.!

If I can smile and crack eggs and maybe even a joke at 5:30 a.m., anyone can. You may be convinced you could never be a morning person. But I’m here to tell you, you have more control than you think. Here’s what I do:

I go to bed.

We non-morning people live in denial. We want to stay up late because we feel so good late at night and there is so much left to do! But the sooner we give in to the math of it, the sooner we’ll get enough sleep to feel like real people. I cannot feel clear-headed without consistently getting eight hours of good sleep. My schedule requires a 5:30 a.m. alarm, and no magic lets me stay up watching movies or meeting deadlines until 1 a.m. and still get enough sleep. Know your body. Do the math. Go to bed on time. It’s amazing how much good sleep changes how you wake up.

I eat a banana.

Breakfast wakes up my body. My modus operandi used to be to do everything possible to avoid waking up, but then I hated how I felt when life required me to be awake. Now that my goal is to actually be awake during my morning routine, my approach has changed. I’ve found breakfast is good for me, and bananas in particular. Adding a couple of bites of banana to your routine gives you a morning boost of tryptophan and vitamin B6, which turns into the happiness hormone serotonin in your brain. I give happiness in the morning two thumbs up.

I do something nice for my morning self before going to bed the night before.

When I’ve done this well, I smile and thank myself a lot in the mornings. I slip into an outfit that’s clean and waiting for me. Because I set the timer on the coffeemaker, I pour a cup of coffee as soon as I flip on the kitchen lights. I put eggs on a crumb-less counter. It’s like someone gave me the gift of thinking through my morning for me and smoothing the way. Oh wait, that was me! So now I not only get a smooth morning but a pat on the back for being so nice to myself. Every night before bed, give yourself the gift of doing quick and simple duties that cause your morning molasses brain to stutter and complain.

I make a happy morning playlist.

My playlist is called “Good Morning, Florida Family” and is public on Spotify if any of you need a morning pick-me-up. It has favorites that run the gamut from Earth, Wind & Fire to VeggieTales. The common theme is that the music sounds happy. Any song that makes me tap my toes and smile gets a quick add so it can brighten my morning mood.

The Greeks inscribed the aphorism “Know Thyself” on their temples as a reminder that self-knowledge affects the ability to gain greater knowledge. It’s true in understanding deep mysteries of life and equally true about getting a firm hand on the simple routines of life. Knowledge is power. Figuring out what makes me tick has given me the power to choose happiness in the most unlikely of places—the early a.m.!

[Tweet “Figuring out what makes me tick has given me the power to choose happiness.”]

God made morning. 

Think about it–God himself created morning. The Psalms are filled with verses about connecting with God in the morning. God’s people throughout Scripture rose “early in the morning” to worship him. There must be something special about morning, something worth waking up for. If we wake up early enough to start our days with the Lord, it’s guaranteed to help us start off the day in a happier place.

What about you? I can’t be the only non-morning person out there. Tell me what tricks you use to banish the morning fog!

Lori Florida’s life is all about her people. She’s convinced that being Mrs. to one and Mommy to eight will be her most significant way to serve Jesus. She wants to use her life to cheer on and coach the women coming behind her. Lori blogs at loriflorida.com.

Photograph © Bethany Beams, used with permission