I have never been a morning person. I'm a night owl, I prefer staying up late and waking up late. This can be problematic when you need nearly eleven hours of sleep a night to feel rested. The issue is, even though I know I have the same amount of productivity hours as someone who goes to bed early and wakes up early, it doesn't feel like that. If I wake up at noon, I know I have twelve hours to get stuff done by midnight; just as someone who wakes up at eight and goes to bed at eight. Although, when I wake up in the afternoon, I can't help but feel anxious and like my day has already been wasted and that I'm not going to be able to get everything done in time.

I've tried to combat these thoughts by proving myself wrong. Waking up at noon and working to midnight shows me I can get stuff done on time, but nonetheless, every morning I continue to wake up at noon I still have this pessimistic feeling. So, rather than trying to cognitively combat my thoughts, I've decided to physically do it by changing my routine: attempting to be a morning person.

The first few days were hard, sleeping pills were a great deal of help, alongside depriving myself of sleep one night on purpose so by the time it was eight at night the next day, I was more than ready for bed. Waking up at eight just puts me in a good headspace, I can have my morning self-care routine done by nine (coffee drank, shower completed, and bed made). By noon, I see how much I've gotten done compared to others. My eating patterns on par with normal eating patterns (I.e not eating lunch when it's everyone else's dinner time).

Although it is hard for me to be a morning person, reflecting on how good I felt after the fact encourages me to make it a daily routine, not something just done once in awhile.