October is just getting started and the weather is starting to cool off. Staying in your warm fuzzy bed as long as you can is probably in your top five things to do in the morning, right? I mean, who's crazy enough to wake up and actually do something before school starts?? Answer: Me! Since the first week of school, I've been waking up early and swimming laps in the school pool. When I first proposed the idea to my parents, they thought I was kidding. I'm definitely not known for liking mornings without coffee, or for willingly doing exercise for that matter. So when my alarm went off at 6:15 that Wednesday morning, all I wanted was to cuddle up in my warm blankets and get my daily dose of caffeine from the nearby Starbucks, but I knew I had to get up and get to the pool. I had a friend waiting on me. Once I got up and put my brand new red and black swimsuit, skipped my normal makeup routine, I headed off to school. I was already excited to see how I would feel after swimming.
I got to school at seven in the morning that day, an hour and 20 minutes before school started. After walking into the pool entrance and talking to the man running the desk, I could tell he thought I was crazy for being there so early. I will admit it took a while to get used to jumping in a cold pool when I hadn't even been awake for 45 minutes yet. I was tired and groggy when I first woke up, and I was cutting it really close with the 15 minutes I gave myself to get ready after showering and washing my hair, but day after day, it became easier. I got into a routine. I found myself feeling refreshed and alert after getting ready. I didn't feel like I needed coffee to stay awake in my Introduction to Law class first period, and I was in a better mood overall.
To be honest, the days I don't swim seem to drag on. I feel more stressed and irritable during the day. The last week of September I had a cold and I didn't swim at all that week, and it was probably the worst week of the school year so far. I had more trouble falling asleep, I felt more tired than usual and it took a lot longer for me to get up and get going than it normally did. I noticed that I was feeling grumpy and clung to a coffee cup like my life depended on it. I figured out that even if I want to stay in bed as long as I can, getting up and swimming puts me in a better mood and it really makes my day just that much better. While getting into a routine can be hard, once you get into the habit it becomes a lot less challenging, and if it's something you really enjoy doing, it'll be worth getting up before the sun.
