By: Mint Suetrong, Contributing Writer
You have good days, and you have bad days, but that should not stop you from having a good morning. A wise person once said, “Getting through a difficult day is well...difficult but starting it off right gets you halfway there.” Starting your day off in a good mood will leave you feeling invincible and ready to conquer anything life may throw at you. Here are my top tips in doing just that.
Customizing your alarm sound
This was by far the greatest game-changer of all. I have been using Sonar for as long as I can remember, and when I realized that I felt extremely uneasy hearing it in the morning, I decided that things were due for a change. I did a little bit of research and came across a way to import songs and use them as my morning alarm. I mean, if you are going to be drowning in work by the end of the day, why not start it with a little dance party?
2. Making a morning playlist
Why not carry your dance party from your bedroom to your bathroom? Your toothbrush, showerhead, shampoo bottle, or literally anything else within your reach can all be microphones. Jamming to your favorite tunes in the morning just makes the day that much better, I promise. As soon as you roll out of bed, turn on some music from your morning playlist and leave your phone on the counter as you get ready. Do not fall in the trap of scrolling through your phone on the toilet seat, though. Also, the songs double as a timer. Adjust your playlist to best fit your morning routine. Use the duration of each song to keep track of how long you should be showering or brushing your teeth. If you happen to overrun a song, then you know you better speed up, or else you are due to be late.
3. Eating a good breakfast
Not all of us have the blessing of having a warm home-cooked meal prepped for us (I do, though, so thank you, Mom. I love you!) in the morning, but that should not stop us from eating something filling in the morning. No one wants to go to class on an empty stomach. The brain requires a lot of energy, and it is in our duty to provide said energy for ourselves. If you prefer to get those few extra minutes of sleep in the morning, then make an extra serving of dinner so you can reheat them for breakfast the following morning!
4. Packing your bag the night before
No one likes the feeling of rushing out the door- except if you like an adrenaline rush, then maybe. Too many things get forgotten when time starts running out—packing things the night before saves a lot of time in the morning. If you finish your work early, then pack your bag right away so you can head straight to bed afterward without worrying about forgetting things the next morning. If you happen to stay up late finishing an assignment, then five more minutes to pack your bag would not make that big of a difference to your sleeping schedule. There is no way that you will fall asleep immediately as your head touches the pillow anyway.
Although this may come as a surprise for some who know me from school, I get anxious pretty easily as I am a rather bubbly kid. To cope with that, I love to snuggle in a comfortable jacket, and I would also keep a dumpling squishy in the pocket of my jacket to squeeze whenever I felt uneasy, or my hand tremors started to worsen. School can be overwhelming, so let’s not be so harsh on ourselves. Start the day off on a good note and take the day as it comes.
Find your ‘safe spot’ in school; this can be in the form of a physical place or even a person. Surrounding yourself with kind, uplifting people does make a big difference. I would have never imagined myself laughing uncontrollably in the middle of math class of all classes. You guys know who you are. Thank you for making me excited to go to school. I love you guys so much.
While I kind of got sidetracked, another change I found helpful was waking up a bit earlier. Say I had to wake up at 5:30 with 30 minutes to get ready, I would now wake up at 5:00 or 5:15 instead. Having those extra 15-30 minutes helped me pace myself and allowed me to take a little more time to listen to music or do some stretching to wake myself up.
All in all, adjust your morning routine to best suit your lifestyle and personality. If waking up 10 minutes before you have to leave the house makes you happy, then, by all means, do it. Your life is yours to live. Live it how you want to.
Headline photo: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_0sE6JoUhgQ/T3N0XWubXNI/AAAAAAAACT8/QmYyEjx_MKA/s1600/colorful_sunset-2493.jpg
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