JUST SAYING: Morning Has Broken: The other side of midnight as a life-altering encounter
/By Shelley Wildgen
Sleepy, slothy, comfy, cozy… everything that keeps us under the blankets all winter long. Just try to beat that cold-outside-no problem-inside, roll-over-after-the-snooze-alarm charm? Impossible. It’s the bliss enjoyed by all hibernating humans … unless, of course, you’re a morning person, all hopped up because your spring-time fresh season has just arrived!
Now when you bound out of bed and pogo over to the shower, the rest of us, we kind of get it. What with all those bob bob bobbin’ing robins on the recently ‘riz’zed grass, who can blame you? Your newfound daybreak is the perfect time to celebrate. Your light has been turned on!
We sleepy-heads can almost actually celebrate with you for a short time. If you stuff a mug of coffee in our face, we can squint our way through a few minutes of spring morning splendour. There’s the incomparable whiff of fresh mud mixed with the air of all things possible but, truth is, not everyone can sustain that positivity for a whole day. The crack of dawn is reserved for a certain segment of the population: farmers, hockey players, and radio announcers — unless by some weird slap of fate we regular folk get foisted into a parallel universe.
It can happen … and it did to me … about twenty years ago. No, it wasn’t new motherhood with its own brand of fresh hello; it was a job at a fitness centre. Honestly. No. Really. I found myself employed at a pretty nifty position manning the front desk of a local fitness club with just one hitch. Start time was 6a.m. Turns out there are a lot of folks who want exactly that. They want their pool warmed and their weights all set up because early, early morning workouts are their favourite way to start the day.
OK. Cool. Yes, let’s do this … and do it I did. For the first week, I squealed into the parking lot at 6a.m. sharp. My head-lights danced off the disappointed, albeit fit, faces of a waiting line of club members. It wasn’t quite early enough, see? They wanted to start their workouts at 6, so if I would be so kind as to arrive at 5:45, that’d be good. 5:45 it was and I learned very fast how serious morning people start their days. For the first month, I watched them warily as I checked their pool temps, washed and dried their towels, and prepped their coffee. Being friendly was part of the gig, so I was always sure to wish them a great day as they sauntered their freshly laundered selves past the desk at 7a.m. sharp. Un-be-lievable. By the second month I was fully engaged, rising at a quarter to stupid every morning and even genuinely smiling as I unlocked the fitness centre door at 5:50 sharp.
Here’s where things went off the rowing machine. I started to become one of them. Something altered with my alertness and I found myself ordering supplies while balancing inventory, filling water jugs and cheerfully answering the phone all before 7 a.m. Then I wondered if there was a way I could fit in my own workout because these shiny, happy people had something … and I wanted it. Turns out that I could if I came into work an hour earlier… so I did. Rise time was 4 a.m., personal workout commenced at 4:50 a.m., shower and dressed at 5:30 and then I opened the door for the members at 5:50. After just a couple of days of gym members seeing the gym lights turned on mega-early, it was decided the members could join me if they paid a premium ‘early bird’ fee … and there we all were, peddling and puffing every morning at 5:00 a.m. My energy levels went through the roof and I became scary productive with membership paperwork, tallying up maintenance costs and even outlining ad campaigns for about three straight hours after my Wanda the Wonder-dog workout followed by a noon long distance bike ride at quitting time. If I wasn’t there in living, sweaty colour, I never would have believed it. The rapture of early morning rising had swallowed me whole. This I know for sure: It is definitely possible to become a morning person when your hand (or pay-cheque) is forced. As a morning convert, I totally understood what made morning people tick. It is an energy gift like no other and an entire day to enjoy following that early start is the cherry on top.
Now before we get too carried away with the many merits of morning cheer, let me assure you that now, years later I am safely ensconced at my writing desk wearing last night’s pajamas aaaattttt … 3:37p.m. Yeah, turns out all that sunshine and spontaneous combustion is an easy habit to break, which I did as soon as I moved on to my next job. But those other people? The real morning people? I am sure they are still as they were. You know them. Some of you are married to them … those saucy little sleepy-heads that toddle off to bed around 8 p.m. because they’ve got to be ready for their cute little heads to pop off their pillows at five bells. Adorable!
So, maybe your own reclining, relaxing love of a lie-in resolve will never be challenged, but if ever it is, I guarantee you’ll be amazed by your barely recognizable, morning self.
