How To Be An Early Riser

I used to be that girl who was a night owl and hated getting up before the sun.

I relished the weekends when I could stay up late watching movies and then sleep in until who knows when! Then I had children…and I never got to sleep in past 9 at the latest.

Fast forward five years…I am rising before the sun, enjoying it immensely, and I am filled with energy all day long. How did this happen?

There are many things that spurred me on to being a morning person.

Yes, now I AM a morning person!

First, I cleaned up my diet and found myself with more natural energy during the day. I researched hormones and found out that going to sleep earlier and getting up earlier is better for my health. I was at a desperate place and needed hormone balance (I had just had a miscarriage) and I would try anything…even getting up early.

It has been amazing how rising early has been such a blessing. I will say, I agreed to milk my goat in the mornings, and it has helped me get up and go. Because we have to have milk! (I have a goal to minimize my grocery store dependency.) So that is one big thing that has helped me become a morning person.

I realize everyone can’t get up and trot out to milk a goat…but it’s personally been a good thing for me.

For you, instead of getting up and going out to the barn, maybe a short workout would benefit you.

Next, rising early, before my little children, gives me so much time to myself.

It’s the perfect time to get a hot drink, read the Bible, read a devotional, and pray! It’s been amazing. I used to “try” to get my Bible reading in at night. But getting three little boys ready for bed and then spending what little time I had with my husband…I was not getting my Bible time in.

I felt bad about this, but just told myself I didn’t have time!

Well, rise early, and there is plenty of time.

Lastly, the latest blessing to rising early has been that I’m here to prepare my husband breakfast. The first time I told him I’d get up and cook him a hot breakfast…he thought something was wrong with me or that I was buttering him up for something! But I wasn’t!

I just wanted to do it because he would love it. All our 8 years of marriage he has told me about his grandmother who would get up before everyone else and always have breakfast ready before her husband went to work. I always laughed and thought she was superwoman for doing that.

Then I have a wonderful friend who has always fixed her husband breakfast, rising hours before her children, and then having her quiet time when he left for work. My mother does the same thing.

Why do I think I should get to sleep in while my husband goes hungry…or worse, stops for a fast food biscuit!

What’s wrong with me? The light bulb lit up in my head, and finally…I rise with him and make him breakfast. He was so happy to see me doing this. He didn’t want to trouble me, but I convinced him it’s no trouble at all!

Rising early fills me with energy.

Eating a healthy breakfast early gets me going so I can feel good all day. I have three high-energy little boys that need me to be alert at all times, and now a little girl to nurse and look after.

I no longer have to lay down and have that little afternoon rest…I go to bed earlier and it’s good for my boys, too!

I want to encourage anyone who is stuck in the rut of staying up too late and dragging themselves out of bed with dread. I know exactly how that feels and I have defeated it.

The Lord put the desire to do it in my heart, and he gave me the strength and the tools to overcome my chronic laziness by rising early. I never ever thought I’d call myself a morning person. But now I am. I’m so thankful! 

I wrote this article in 2020 and never posted it on the blog. I was thrilled to have this story feature in Above Rubies magazine for Spring 2021. If you haven’t read Nancy Campbell’s content before, I highly recommend it! She has helped form many of our ideals and encouraged our family.