Before anyone assumes I am a masochist, I assure you the only self-inflicted torture I endured was mid-afternoon sleepiness that could not be remedied by the unlimited supply of caffeine surrounding me at work.

So, a little explanation to my temporary week of madness: I am a chronic procrastinator, with anxious thoughts swirling through my mind at top speed, constantly thinking about what I need to be doing and when I need everything done by. Basically, I exhaust myself thinking of everything I want and/or need to get done, but never actually manage my time out well enough to accomplish much.

I also have a tendency to have too many ideas ricocheting around my skull, so I get too overwhelmed to put any solid planning into action.

A fellow contributor on the AJP Odyssey team, Alexandria Pallat, and her 30-day challenge to become a more mindful and positive person inspired me. I thought about challenging myself in some way to become a more motivated and productive person.

I figured that if I felt like there were not enough hours in the day to do everything I needed or wanted to do, then I better just add hours to my day.

I set my alarm to 5:50 a.m. and forced myself out of bed at 6:00 a.m. whether I had to work in the morning, afternoon or not at all. I asked some others how they made themselves skip the “snooze” button and get the day going just after the sun woke up.

I got some great suggestions to drink a glass of cold water first thing, and then wash my face to wake me up completely. I decided that since my baseline is best described as "perpetually tired," I would bring a glass of cold water into the shower with me and chug it while slightly less cold water rained down on me.

That seemed to be a useful strategy most mornings.

Day One

I actually did not have too much trouble with the early wake-up call on the first day because I was scheduled to work in the morning, anyway. I only got up about a half hour earlier than I would have, but I actually found I had time to shower and put some makeup on if I felt like it.

I will say that I was a little more uncoordinated than I usually am, causing a rather large Matcha latte spill (sorry, Erin). Except, I really wasn’t too tired and felt a tiny sense of accomplishment.

I was optimistic for the rest of the week.

Day Two

I was awake, but my eyes were heavy. I forced myself out of bed and with squinted eyes stumbled into the bathroom to shock my system awake with a cool shower.

I did not have to work until noon, so I had six hours before I even had to be functioning. I decided to take my time getting ready and was able to take the time to dry and straighten my hair along with perfecting a winged liner look (which I typically don’t have time to do).

I woke my boyfriend up an hour later, and we went to the café near our house for a delicious breakfast before the tourists poured in to disrupt the calm and quiet atmosphere.

Day Three

I was so tired and unknowingly snoozed my alarm for a half hour (sorry, Dom). I was also more irritable at work and felt like I had to try too hard to be a friendly barista. A few times I even had to walk away from rude customers because I could not control my facial expressions or my sarcastic remarks (spoken inside my head, but they came close to escaping).

When I got home, I had plans to sit outside and write or read and relax but wound up falling asleep on the couch for two hours (oops).

Later that evening my grandmother had some family over for her weekly Sunday dinner. I had a hard time staying focused on the conversations happening but was less irritable.

I was so excited to go to bed that I almost considered suggesting to Dom that we save “Game of Thrones” for Monday evening.

Almost.

Day Four

I accidentally snoozed my alarm until 7:30 a.m.

I tend to hit buttons on my phone in my sleep to get my alarm to stop making noise and do not actually realize the time until much later. I almost decided to give up and just go back to bed, thinking that the day was ruined with this setback.

However, I rolled out of bed and continued with the morning routine. And, I am so glad I did. I decided to motivate myself to get going by setting out to get a good breakfast before work and was even able to shop for an hour with enough time to get to work. I could feel myself getting tired and spacey as soon as I got into the coffee shop and immediately reached for the espresso.

The rest of the day was productive, and I found myself cleaning and organizing a bit quicker than usual. I think I was trying to make up for my alarm-snoozing snafu.

Day Five

Between working five days in a row, and having three, consecutive closing shifts that included some heavier cleaning, I was so tired.

Not even the cold shower could wake my foggy brain. I went out for another decent breakfast and was able to start a few writing pieces I have had in mind. However, I was exhausted for work and felt like the day was never going to end.

Day Six

I have to be honest and decided that I could not get myself out of bed anywhere near 6 a.m.

I slept until about 7:30 a.m. and rested on and off until 9 a.m.

I felt like my body and my mind was too tired to get anything done, so I took that as a cue from my brain that I needed more rest. I happily obliged.

Thankfully, I had the day off and was able to sit and have coffee while I wrote my article and planned out some grocery shopping and cleaning. As I write this, I am still getting through Day Six, and still, have one more day of this challenge.

Good thing I have a morning shift tomorrow, again, to force me out of bed.

The Experience

I like to characterize myself as a happy medium of “morning person” and “night owl” because I like to stay up late, but not ridiculously late, and I find that if I sleep later than 10:00 a.m. I feel like the day is wasted.

I even really love when I wake up in the middle of the early morning and cannot get back to sleep. I look outside the front window at the mountains in the glow of the early morning darkness, just before a sunrise. It is so calming, but I cannot manage to actually stay up at that odd hour.

After this challenge, I cannot confidently say I want to continue with a 6 a.m. wake up call. I had very mixed feelings to becoming an early riser because some days I felt great and productive, other days I felt like I was stuck in a fog and couldn’t keep focused.

However, I am hoping that I have been training my body to naturally wake up earlier than I typically would and get to bed a bit earlier than I have been. I feel like more focus needs to be on my nighttime routine in order to keep an early goal for the next day. I think my issue is that I get home and want to research and look at so many ideas I had throughout my day, and wind up staying awake too late and keeping my brain too active.

I may try to write down things that come to my mind during the day, and make sure to carry at least one notebook to work with me. I think this will at least help me prioritize my ideas and keep me on a decent sleep schedule.

I also think that aiming for a 7 a.m. range would be better for me because that time seems more reasonable to make sure I am well-rested and can continue being productive the entire day, not just a few early hours in the morning.

Finally, I wish I had made myself go for walks or do some yoga after waking up because I feel like doing something more active would have been a much better use of my time. I would have had my natural energy boost and set up my day for better eating and clearer decision-making. I actually feel like this weird sleep change has negatively affected my eating habits, activity levels and food choices.

If you decide to try a similar challenge, I just recommend that you do not set your expectations too high and do not put pressure on yourself. This is supposed to help you become a better version of yourself, not to add on stress and self-loathing when you do hit that ever-enticing snooze button one (or four) times.

I think I would like to keep my “morning person” challenge, but on a slightly less strict level.

One positive about this experience, though: My makeup most of those days was on point.