You can be grumpy, or you can be grateful.
You can get a lot accomplished when your alarm wakes you up an hour before you meant for it to wake you up. It’s especially helpful if you wake up with cramps that are uncomfortable enough to keep you from falling back asleep, yet not so painful that you’re physically incapable of escaping the fetal position.
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You can wash the dishes you’ve neglected the past couple of days. You can make yourself a cup of Good Earth Original (sweet and spicy) tea to drink right now, and another one to take with you in your special travel mug.
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You can scrub away all that cracked, dry skin on your heels with the “As Seen on TV” Ped Egg, admitting that not ALL of those infomercial-esque products are total pieces of crap. You might even consider self-pedicures from now on, because it works that well, and the main reason you pay $25 for a pedicure (next to the relaxing leg massage) is for the callus removal treatments. (And let’s face it, you really should be putting that 300-ish dollars per year toward something more important like paying down your loans.
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You can transfer all your stuff from your ratty old purse to the cute new one you got last night at Kmart for $12, strategically deciding which pocket each item should live in, in order to maximize the purse’s storage capacity and ensure easy access to the items you need to access most easily.
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You can, during your very productive morning, listen to lots of upbeat music to fool yourself into thinking it isn’t so early that it’s still pitch black outside. (You can also thank God that Daylight Savings is coming soon.) You might also enjoy singing along to said music, and even possibly (but no one can prove it!) dancing around in your underwear a little bit.
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You can open up a browser window and visit your recently-neglected blog dashboard, deciding that you still have something to say that’s worth reading (or at least worth writing). You can sip your tea and suddenly get that familiar-yet-elusive-of-late feeling of inspiration, and then just sit down and start writing. And yet, even in the midst of this surge of easily flowing prose, you might find yourself second guessing your writing ability. Don’t worry, though: you can chalk it up to the fact that it’s still pre-dawn and maybe your brain just isn’t fully functional yet. Your readers (if they’re still out there) will understand.
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You can consider, for just a moment, crawling right back into bed after all this productivity and sleeping for another half hour…but instead you’ll opt for showering, because you know how groggy you’d end up feeling if you slept for a few fitful minutes, and a shower will have just the opposite effect: it’ll wake you up enough to get you through your last day of work before a much-needed three day weekend.
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You can start to think about all the OTHER things you could do with this extra time, like catch up on reading blogs, sort through the mound of mail you’ve put off dealing with, or even make a quick trip to the gym before that shower you’re about to take. But you’ll realize that you don’t have to do everything all at once, and the things you have done are a big accomplishment. There’s no need to beat yourself up; after all, you should theoretically still be asleep right now.
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You can get a lot accomplished with one more waking hour before your day really begins. You could be angry at your husband for setting the alarm so early yesterday and forgetting to change it back before his work trip, but instead you’ll decide that this was a blessing, and you’ll kiss him a little longer when he gets home.
LOVED this post! And it’s so funny, it reminds me of an article I read recently on a guy that did an experiment of getting up at 3AM every day for a month to see if he could be more productive with the extra hours in the day. It was a really interesting read, but I don’t know if I could do it!
Oh, I love this, Tabitha… especially because I have such a hard time getting up in the morning right now. I can really use some of your positive attitude about the extra hour of time in which you accomplished so much!!!
This is such a cute post! I love that happenstance took you to a totally productive and lovely place!
Nice post. I take burst of productivity when I can… although I’m not sure if they’ve ever occurred an hour before I’m suppose to wake up
haha so ironic that you would write this today, as I stayed in bed neglecting everything I SHOULD have done due to the same previously said cramps you’re dealing with. Another day, another time. I miss you and love you and I’m sorry we didn’t talk last night.
Video chat soon please!? 
Aw, this is very sweet
I love the predawn hours. I wake up at 5 am every day and stay in bed and work on job applications and blog and stuff. and then get out of bed at 6:40 to leave the house at 7 for work. it’s nice to have the time for myself.
I’ve been aiming at getting up an hour earlier three days a week for precisely this reason.
Isn’t it great though, how much more time it feels like??
I love this!!! I’ve been so much happier a lot lately because I choose not to think or dwell on things that are negative. Life is too short!
Doesn’t it just feel so good to get the extra stuff done? I SO wish I could discipline myself to get up extra early every day, but the bed is just so damn warm and cozy! Good for you for getting all that stuff done!
But, I hate to break it to you, daylight savings ENDS soon
Mornings and I aren’t currently friends. I’m glad that you were able to find moments of happiness in the early morning hours. Isn’t a new bag the greatest? I bought a new one last week and have been loving it!
Love it! I’m going to remind myself of this tomorrow morning when my alarm goes off!
ha!! great post! i’m going to double check my alarm for tomorrow hehe