These Boots Were Made For Traveling

…and I mean really early.

My boyfriend and I both work at Starbucks, which often means getting up and heading out before anyone else is even dreaming of being awake – we literally have to make everyone’s first cup of coffee for the day! The cafe that Ty works at opens at 5:30am and he has to arrive a half hour prior to open, meaning that we’re usually up between 4:00 and 4:30 on the days that he’s on the morning shift. My store opens at 6:00, so I get to arrive at work at the much more reasonable hour of 5:30! 😉

Previously, when I had a day off or started work later, I’d stay in bed when Ty got up to go to work (as any sane person would do, honestly). The problem with this is that it actually made me feel worse – after saying goodbye to him, taking the dog out and climbing back into bed, I’d either lay awake messing around on my phone and being unproductive, or I’d fall back asleep for an hour or two and feel like garbage when I woke up again (I’m not big on naps – I just end up all groggy and sick afterwards).

For the past three weeks I’ve started forcing myself to just. get. up. when Ty leaves for work and honestly, it’s had a huge { positive } impact on my day-to-day life. I love it.

If you see me on a regular basis in “real life”, you’ll have heard a lot recently about how early I’ve been getting up every day and how great I think it is. { Sorry to anyone I’m starting to annoy by talking about this so much. Oops! }

Here are my top 7 reasons why getting up this early is worth it!

1. Coffee tastes better — I don’t know why. I don’t know how. I don’t know if it’s all in my head. I just know that at 5:00am coffee tastes AWESOME. And that’s coming from someone who’s usually a non-coffee drinker. { Yes, I know, I work at Starbucks and I don’t really drink coffee. For shame! }

2. More productivity — You HAVE. MORE. TIME. Literally and figuratively. Obviously you literally have more { waking } hours in a day when you get up earlier, and as long as you’re motivated to start getting things done right away (see above point, coffee, for assistance with this) you can achieve a lot. For me, I also feel like I figuratively have more time. I’m someone who’s most productive early in the morning and gets less motivated as the day goes on, so by capitalizing on these early hours, I’m really adding to the things I can get accomplished in a day before my energy is drained.

3. Seeing the sunrise — Personally, I think sunsets are more beautiful than sunrises, however there’s something so inspiring and renewing about the sunrise. The air tastes better, everything looks a little brighter (hmm, I wonder why…) and I feel so refreshed. Waking up before the sunrise and being able to watch it come up really helps put me in a positive mood for the rest of the day.

4. Gratitude — This goes hand-in-hand with seeing the sunrise, because how can you possibly watch the sun come up and spread its light over the earth without feeling grateful? Being up that early gives me a chance to really observe what’s around me and what I have in my life and feel truly appreciative.

5. You feel better { Once you get past the whole, you know, waking up early thing… } — Getting into a regular routine of going to bed early and getting up early has made me feel a lot better physically as well. I don’t have those random aches and pains I used to, I feel less tired and more energetic throughout the day, and I think more clearly. Maybe it’s due to circadian rhythm? Who knows?

6. You’ll sleep better at night { After making this your regular routine. } — Naturally, getting up extra early means you’re more tired in the evenings. In turn, this increases the speed in which you’ll fall asleep and ideally will help you stay asleep throughout the night as well.

7. More time to take it slow — This one is parallel to #2. More Productivity. If you choose to get up early then instead of rushing around and completing tasks, you can take things slowly. Savour your morning tea, work out, make a nice breakfast, read a book or the newspaper, catch up on an episode of your favourite TV show, prep and organize for the day, pack a lunch to take to work, stretch, enjoy the sunrise or simply. do. nothing. { ahhh… } The possibilities are endless.

Getting up at 4 o’clock in the morning is not for the faint of heart! If you can do it, I can { almost } guarantee you that it’ll be worth it. However, even if you just start getting up an hour, or half an hour, earlier than your usual wake up call, you’ll notice a big difference in how the rest of your day plays out.