Adventures in Pinterest | How to Wake Up Early and Sunrise over Charleston Harbor

This month, I gave myself the 30 Day Challenge to wake up before the sun. It hasn’t always been easy, even if the sun doesn’t come up until a little after 7 each morning. And there has been lots and lots of coffee. I’ve been waking up to an alarm set for 6 each morning. While I’m proud at how well I’ve done and how much I accomplish in the quiet of the mornings, I could always use a little more help and support, and of course I turned to Pinterest.

I found this infographic pin from Funders and Founders.

I’ve been trying to follow this advice on how to wake up early, mostly. I do a good job other than drinking water before bed (um, I have to pee enough in the middle of the night) and making breakfast exciting (I’m kind of sick of smoothies, honestly).

• I blocked out as much light as I can in our room. There are still two baby monitors and an alarm clock that provide some light, but blocking all the light I can makes a big difference in my quality of sleep, which makes it easier to get up with the alarm.
• I have been trying to schedule at least 15 minutes of no-screen time before I turnout the lights to kind of detox from my online life, and it has meant a return to paper books.
• For Christmas, my parents gave me a new quilt for our bed, so I’m warm and cozy. I even bought new sheets to match, so now my bed is beautiful and comfortable, and that’s a decadent combination.
• The alarm is across the room, which is such a big help. Otherwise, I’d press snooze until the kids were jumping on the bed and pulling me out.
• The alarm clock is set to my phone, so it’s off and not easily accessible. And I try to plug my iPad in too somewhere out of reach, so I’m not tempted to read late into the night or to lounge in my bed in the morning.

All that was probably normal and expected advice, right? But I love the idea of planning the important and exciting things for first thing in the morning. It gives me something to look forward to the second the alarm goes off, a reason not to push snooze and to jump up, get something done.

This was the reason I scheduled an early date with my camera and the sunrise over Charleston Harbor. It was an amazing reason to wake up early, and I will never, ever get tired of views like this one. The water, the sunshine, the dolphins and pelicans. Even the moon was out to wish me good morning. I wish I could start every morning just as beautifully.

This is part of the Adventures in Pinterest series. I’ll be linking up with Megan from MamaBub, and I really hope you’ll join Megan, Jessica, Wendy, and me on our adventures.

Megan on Pinterest | Wendy on Pinterest | Jessica on Pinterest | Me on Pinterest

What’s your favorite way to wake up?