I’ve never been a “morning person.” In fact, I’m quite distrustful of chipper people in the morning. How can they be so happy and productive when they could just stay in bed for an extra five minutes? It’s not natural, I tells ya.
I much prefer to slam my alarm off, plunge deep into my blankets for a few more moments of blisful rest, roll out of bed (literally), stumble to the kitchen, churn together something resembling a smoothie, and blast terrible music through the radio.
What could be a better start to the day than that?
But my morning ritual has been thrown out of sorts lately. It started about a month ago. I woke up to a pitch-black room. No sunlight was streaming through my window. It was as dark as it had been when I went to bed the night before.
I felt a wave of relief, that special kind of relief that comes from knowing you can go back to sleep. I sank back into my blanket paradise and drifted away.
Five minutes later my alarm went off.
I scrambled to it, baffled. Surely I must’ve accidently set it for 4 a.m. But I had made no such mistake. It’s was 7:15 a.m. on the dot.
My mind was befuddled. The clock told me one thing but the night-like darkness told me another. I peered through my squinted eyes at the window, trying to see the light. There was none. It was a morning without the sun.
This problem hits me every winter. Once the cold weather rolls around, the sun gets real lazy about his job. He comes to work late, leaves early, and doesn’t shine as brightly as he should. He promises to be better in the summer, but where does that leave us now? Quite frankly, it’s disgraceful behaviour.
I read an article recently that said exposing yourself to sunlight is the perfect way to wake up in the morning. It signals to your brain that it’s time to get going. But what do you do when you can’t get that signal?
In my case, you sleep in too late. I’ve had to set multiple alarms in succession to make sure I’m out of my bed in time to have breakfast before going to work. I shamble through my apartment, fighting to stay awake. Without the sun, it’s hard to convince the brain to stay alert.
But I think I’ve found the solution. This morning, as I was walking to my car, I slipped on a patch of ice. I tried to catch myself, but gravity would not be denied. I wiped out on the ground, landing on my arm.
Was it embarrassing? Yes. Did it hurt? Absolutely. Is my arm still aching as I type this article? Oh, unbelievably so.
But, hey, it woke me up. I went from zombie-esque to fully-alert in one second flat. It’s the perfect way to snap to attention.
So, from now on, I’m going to dump a bucket of water on my doorstep every night. When I step out in the morning, it’ll be a nice layer wakeup ice.
Hey, if the sun’s not going to do it’s job, I’ve got find my own common-sense solutions.
