Getting up in the morning
Wiggle your index finger
Category: practical life strategies!
If you have any other waking-up tips, please share them in a comment :D
Sometimes when I wake up, I decide to go back to sleep. Morning-me is pretty short-sighted, and I tell myself that sleep-ins are pleasurable and harmless.
The next day, I wake up more sluggish than usual. The sluggishness makes it tempting to regret waking up and go back to sleep yet again.
If this repeats for 2-3 days, I’m solidly stuck in a bad habit. Kicking the habit requires getting out of bed quickly and consistently. The sluggishness goes away after a week or so, given that I can wake up consistently.
This is not a given.
Morning-me is a manipulative bastard.
“It’s super nice, why not enjoy it for a bit before you go up?”
”Are you sure you can move? Your body feels quite unresponsive to me”
”You deserve to sleep in a bit, don’t be so hard on yourself”
”Maybe you actually need to sleep in a bit to recover?”
Here are my main ways of handling the situation; recommendations from a recovering snoozeaholic.1
1. Breathwork
Breathwork, or rhythmic breathing, is a great way to gain energy for me. And it doesn’t require getting up from bed before starting! I have a way to quickly launch a guided breathwork session on my smartphone, and find it a great way to get going.
If you haven’t done it before, do a test session while you’re awake. Just make sure you’re lying down while doing it, and avoid operating vehicles and/or heavy machinery for the duration of the session.
2. You’re not tired, you are thirsty
When I wake up tired and sluggish, it’s easy to tell myself that I need to sleep. Given that the tiredness and sluggishness stem from sleeping in, this message is part of the destructive spiral.
I’ve got another message I tell myself instead: “You are not tired, you are thirsty”. This is somewhat true - I am usually thirsty in the morning. Drinking water makes me feel less sluggish and is pleasant. Making the move to sit up is easier when I’m on my way to my water bottle.
3. Wiggle your finger!
When I get stuck and movement feels Very Hard, sitting up is a challenge. The duvet feels like iron chains, locking me to the bed.
I reclaim agency by wiggling my finger. If I can wiggle my finger, I can move my wrist, then my shoulders, then my legs. Once that gets going, sitting up is way simpler.
Final Notes
I talked to a friend yesterday, who told me that he’d used my finger-wigling trick to get out of bed, and was happy I’d shared it with him. The conversation inspired me to write this post. I’m grateful for my many wonderful conversation partners. You are the origin of a lot of the ideas I write about in this blog, a source of inspiration and joy!
I’m also happy about my philosophical guidance practice! Since starting out, I’ve had successful sessions with people who have helped me by recommending he practice to others. Things are picking up - I’ve got 5 sessions booked over the next two weeks - most of them with people I don’t know!
It feels good to help others! I’m thankful that people like you are telling others about this blog, and my guidance practice. If you have people in your life who sometimes struggle waking up, consider telling them about the finger-wiggling trick :D
If you are bothered by something that feels important, and at the same time confusing, you might want to try out philosophical guidance. I will help you explore, keeping track of your emotions, chain of reasoning, things you avoid and assumptions you’re missing.
Exploring the important things in life can be hard if you try to do it on your own. Strong emotions and unexamined assumptions can make things messy and unpleasant to deal with.
I’d love to go exploring together. I’ve got a few slots left at the end of this month.
I spent much of my student years snoozing away 45 mins every morning, split up in 10 min segments. Damn it’s pleasurable, but it also fucks me up for the rest of the day.
Practical tip for getting up in the morning, inspired by your anti-autumn depression lamps.
My partner and I have started turning on the bedside lamp right when the first alarm goes off. Snoozing for 5 minutes and closing our eyes in the light helps the eyes and body adjust without the abrupt transition from darkness to brightness. Getting some "sunlight" seems to be a widely accepted way to wake up (duh). Done wonders for me! Otherwise, I could, just like you, excuse myself to stay put.
Gonna try wiggling my fingers. Sounds fun!