Becoming a morning person

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but somewhere along the road I became a morning person.  That doesn't mean that I enjoy getting up early all the time or don't complain about being tired when I am up, it just means that I can and often do, function quite effectively in the early hours of the day. 

I used to be able to sleep in.  Some days until the early afternoon.  These days I consider 7 a.m. to be sleeping in, and anything after that is just icing on the cake.  Truth be told, I don't mind getting up early and getting day started, even if my version of "starting" includes nothing more than sipping coffee on the couch and watching Parenthood on Netflix.  I love looking at the clock and realizing I still have 30 minutes before I need to get in the shower.  It's almost like being awake on borrowed time.  Technically my day has started, but it hasn't REALLY started yet. 

During my softball days in college we would have practices at 6 a.m. in the winter.  Mostly filled with conditioning drills, I dreaded these practices more than just about anything, and hearing the alarm go off so early each morning made my stomach clench and my nerves tighten instantly.  So scarred was I by these early morning practices that I made Dean get rid of his alarm clock soon after.....the sound brought back too many awful memories.  But I will say this.  Once practice was over and my body and lungs were more or less recovered, it felt good to walk out of the gym knowing that the worst and probably hardest part of the day was behind me.  It was a relief to know that the hours of my day after classes let out were mine.  I feel the same way today, since 95% of the time I will do my exercising in the morning before work.  I'm no longer running sprints and jogging up and down bleachers, but each workout does have a minor degree of intensity which makes me gasp for breath on occasion.  And while there are moments each day when I contemplate skipping the workout and getting a few more minutes of sleep, I know that the feeling of relief, the feeling of knowing that I've crossed a major item off my to-do list by 6:30 a.m., that feeling is worth getting up early for. 

Between the exercise and the idea of being able to relax a little bit before jumping headfirst into the start of another day, I've come to appreciate mornings as a time when I can do just about whatever I want.  Yes, some days the idea of crawling out of bed when it's still pitch black outside sounds like the hardest thing in the world to do (and it truly can be), but once I'm up, I usually don't regret it.  Once I've managed to swing one leg out of the covers and onto the floor the rest just falls into place.

I'm officially embracing my status as a morning person.  I never thought I would be able to call myself one, but I think I have officially crossed over.  Is this another sign of growing up?  Or just one more way I've managed to learn more about myself and what works best for my lifestyle?  Either way, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.