Good Morning! It’s a lovely day here in the UK, I hope its lovely wherever you are today! Normally on Sundays I have a lie in. Sundays are my days to chill out, recharge my batteries and give myself a little pamper than I’m all set for the new week ahead. Today I did wake up quite early (for a Sunday) and it gave me inspiration to write this post.

I never used to be a morning person. Hated mornings. Worst part of the day. God forbid if anyone spoke to me in the morning! Looking back I just put it down to teenage hormones. I don’t really know any teenager like likes getting up in the morning. My outlook on mornings changed once I started working. At this point I had finished high school and college and got a job working with horses. As with almost any land based or agricultural job, early mornings are compulsory. With my previous horse jobs, my accommodation was provided on the yard. So I lived on site. It was great because I could set my alarm 5 minutes before I needed to start work! Then I could climb out of bed and stroll straight onto the yard! it would still take me a while to wake up though. A while to be able to tolerate people.

When I was working at my last horse job, about 2 years ago, I had my own little house on the yard. I absolutely loved it! My bedroom was upstairs and it had just the one window. The window was facing where the sun used to rise in the mornings. So in winter it would still be dark by the time my alarm went off, but in summer it would be light at about 5:30am. This used to piss me off. The curtains didn’t really stop the sun from shining through and I couldn’t really do anything else to help the situation. The summer that I worked there I found that I was getting pissed off because I was being woken up before my alarm went off, but when it came to actually getting out of bed, it was a lot easier to do. It wasn’t so much a task or a chore anymore. By the time I went out onto the yard, I was feeling pretty fresh!

Once I left that job and moved back home I decided to experiment with my curtains. My bedroom is in the attic and we have a North facing house. I have a small window on the left side of the house and than I have a window on the roof, on the North side so I get quite a lot of sunshine in my room throughout the day. I left this job in November so it was pretty dark for the majority of the time, but once it came to Spring I started my experiment. I left my curtains open 24/7 to see if it would make a positive change on my sleeping pattern and if it would make me a happier person in the morning and it did! Well I wasn’t necessarily happier, but I wasn’t as grumpy! Still couldn’t quite tolerate people though. Animals sure…but not people…not first thing in the morning.

During my experiment I found that the sun shining through my window, naturally and gradually woke me up. At first, this did piss me off, but when I checked the time I still had like another hour to stay in bed! Now that made me happy!
Last year I also switched my alarm to something more calming and not as, well alarming. I have a iPhone, so I’m not sure if other makes have an option like this but on my alarm on my phone there is a ‘Bedtime’ alarm. With this you can choose a time to go to sleep and then a time you want to wake up. You’ll get a notification about 15 minutes before the time you decided to go to sleep basically telling you to go to sleep. In the morning when the alarm goes off, it starts all really quiet and slowly gets louder. I found this works better for me as I’m not being shocked awake! I think the shock of an alarm was a contributing factor as to why I felt so grim in the morning.

Last year, my best friend L was going through a shit time with his job and he was finding it hard in the mornings to get the motivation to get out of bed and go to work. So I bought him a SAD lamp. Through winter he did use it, and it did help, but its a lot of effort first thing in the morning to plug-in and the light is SO bright! It will blind you if you look directly at it! When it got to spring I said to him he should try leaving his curtains open. He’s always been an indoor cat. Not one for outdoors and used to hate the sunshine (I have now converted him to an outdoor cat). His bedroom doesn’t get a lot of sunshine in it, so I thought it would be ideal for him as it’s not as though he will be blinded with the sun at 5:30am. Once I had convinced him to leave his curtains open, I got a message a few days later from him, telling me how much it helped him in the mornings! Boom! Nailed it! Thank you sunshine!! The sun light gradually woke him up, then by the time his alarm went off, he was already a little bit awake and ready to take on the day!

If you have a iPhone, I would recommend you try out the Bedtime alarm! But if you like the sharp wakening from a normal alarm…please go get help. If you do however struggle to function or wake up in the mornings, I know the struggle! For the past year/year and a half I’ve always left my curtains open and it really helps me to get out of bed. Normally once I’m awake, I’m awake. I do struggle to fall back asleep. So I’ll either get up extra early and get my jobs done, which leaves me feeling like I’ve accomplished something and makes me proud of myself! Or I’ll chill in bed till my alarm goes off, which helps me recharge my batteries for a little longer.

As it’s getting closer to summer here in the UK, it can be harder to get out of bed on a nice day when all you want to do is sunbathe or be in a beer garden. Don’t panic! Summer doesn’t just mean earlier mornings, it also means longer nights! Get up, get your shit done and reward yourself with some vitamin D! You deserve it! When you live in the UK, you need to make the most of the sun!

I’m off to the yard now, then meeting Z in Manchester for our fat day!

I hope you all have a lovely Sunday and make sure you recharge your batteries ready for a fresh new week tomorrow!

Love you all lots,

Emma xo