How Waking Up Early Reduced My Anxiety

Maximising the potential for good days every day.

You have probably read many articles on the benefits of waking up early and I’m sorry to say that this post is not original. If you’re looking for life hacks, you aren’t going to get any of those.

But we often miss the obvious and underestimate the power of small, simple changes, and these are what inspired this article.

I aim to explain as best I can how the changes I made helped me to reach my main goal— to feel better. However, the biggest change had to come from within, and that was my attitude. I had to stop complaining about my circumstances and start being proactive instead.

So, if you’ve come this far, and you’re also battling something and don’t quite know where to start, you’re not alone, and there is hope.

Here’s my story.

I Used To Live for a Time That Wasn’t Mine

By principle, I did not live by someone else’s schedule — I thought that I was choosing to give my time away because I thought that was the right thing to do.

Before becoming a parent I went to work and gave 8 hours of my time to my employer. Plus overtime. Plus an hour for travel to my work. Plus an hour to get ready for work. Plus the thoughts after work which were pretty much 24/7. Plus I checked my emails first thing in the morning from my bed. Plus I talked about work to my husband, friends, and family.

I denied it, but I lived to work. It was exhausting.

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent, and not enough time on what is important.” — Steven Covey

I would rather make sure the work was done than eat a healthy meal. Conversations were interrupted by phone calls that I would pick up in a panic. I’d work while on holiday and not put my all into the quality time with my family.

Worst of all, I didn’t realise that what I was actively doing was damaging me.

The effect this was having on my brain was incredible. It would start ticking nervously from the moment I woke up. The anxiety would manifest itself physically as my body shook lightly when my alarm went off in the morning.

Often I lay in bed awake early trying to go back to sleep but my mind would play the routine of going to work. I’d get up feeling exhausted from the day that I had imagined before it had even started.

I was a nervous wreck, all the time.

A couple of years before I fell pregnant I started getting up at 5:45 knowing I didn’t really need to get up for work till at least 7. I still felt nervous immediately after waking up for some time, but the feeling wouldn’t linger like it used to. Eventually, I stopped waking up nervous at all.

Here are the reasons why waking up early has helped increase my own sense of wellbeing.

You Take Control of Time

I started to get up early just to get some quiet time. Time to do something non-work-related before having to run on someone else’s schedule.

I began noticing the small things that are usually nothing more than background scenes to our days.

I took pleasure in the sound of turning over a page of my book. I found entertainment in watching my cats play in the garden to the point I sometimes laughed out loud. I’d observe the rainbow of colours the sky turned as the sun rose and became fascinated by how deliberately beautiful it was.

I felt genuinely overwhelmed by how much pleasure could be experienced with little things. Never again would I take them for granted.

I was so excited about this almost secret bit of time to myself that I began planning every minute of it to maximise my enjoyment of it. 10 minutes of stretching, a 30-minute run, a 5-minute walk, 15 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of silent reflection. I started to properly practice gratitude throughout the morning and taking it with me into the rest of my day.

“Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.” — Thomas Edison

Giving yourself a sense of control of time adds value to your life.

When you know you have been true to yourself by doing something that interests you first, you let the better version of you take lead for the rest of the day.

Now, some might scoff and say they can find a slot of time during the day that suits them better. The next point is the reason why I choose to wake up earlier instead.

Nobody is Likely To Try To Steal It

According to Frank Buck for Clockify., interruptions are the key culprit that take away from your time at work. The same can be said for the rest of your life. Interruptions are the silent killers of your day-to-day productivity.

We are in a world where technology has facilitated and condoned communications between employers and employees outside of your contracted hours. Also, how often are you caught waiting for an appointment that starts late? Being cut off mid-conversation by a child demanding attention? Getting a phone call when you’re enjoying a coffee with a friend?

Life is full of constant time-wasting distractions.

Although there are many things you can do to actively shy away from them, I must point out that business doesn’t open at 5 or 6 AM.

Unless you work for a company of sharks, I don’t think anyone would dare chase you on the deadline you’re working on at that time. Customers aren’t going to be calling you either, so the temptation to answer should not be there. Kids should still be getting their much-needed sleep, too.

Giving yourself this little bit of uninterrupted time can help you focus on whatever you want. Exercising, meditating, reading, or working on a side project are only a few things you could be doing during this precious time.

It’s a time up for grabs, so use it to your advantage.

“The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” — Stephen R. Covey

Many successful people’s best ideas come in the morning, and it’s no wonder why. I couldn’t believe how much thinking I got done. I didn’t realise I had a creative bone in my body till I started writing — which takes place first thing in the morning when I am completely alone with my thoughts.

I found myself actually liking my company when before, I couldn’t stand being alone.

I can get on with the rest of my day feeling like I can take on the world once I have had a bit of uninterrupted quality time with myself first.

Increased Productivity — All Day

The most important point in my opinion — maximising your potential.

When I have written 1000 words before my son is up, or when I have done a tonne of reading and meditation, I feel fulfilled. It boosts me. I am motivated to problem-solve instead of complaining for the rest of the day.

It is empowering to tick off a few items on your goals list before you work on someone else’s.

Don’t underestimate the value of self-prioritisation.

Science doesn’t prove that waking up early increases productivity — it is the management of your time that increases it. And waking up early to do something for yourself helps you gain control of your time and thus, helps you prioritise and become more efficient.

Being more deliberate about how to distribute your time increases the value of your time.

A problem that Kelly Harris Perin for Clockify.me points out is that people tend to overestimate the amount of time they have to do everything on their agenda. She says,

“We want to do all of the things and live our fullest lives, and we’re often just WAY too optimistic about the amount we can squeeze into a day or a week.”

You won’t set yourself up for failure when you tick a couple of things off your to-do list as soon as you wake up. You won’t falsely tell yourself you will do what you plan after work, only to change your mind at the last minute and feel guilty later.

Furthermore, a BBC article looks into the pros and cons of waking up early and states that,

People who wake up early are more in sync with the traditional corporate schedule and tend to have more proactive personalities, which might lead to better grades in school or higher wages on the job.

This leads me to the biggest productivity killer, the one that everybody gets, but only a few fight it well. You know the one:

Procrastination

Not to be confused with laziness, by the way.

Procrastination is an active process — you choose to do something else instead of the task that you know you should be doing. In contrast, laziness suggests apathy, inactivity and an unwillingness to act. — Mindtools.com

The main reasons for procrastinating according to the University of Guildford, Surrey, UK, are:

“(1) perceived low level of task enjoyment, (2) anticipation of aversive outcomes, (3) estimated inability to do the task (perfectionists often fall into this reasoning) (4) competing attractiveness of alternative tasks.”

You procrastinate at work, and you procrastinate when it comes to your own personal goals.

The key is to recognise when you are procrastinating; the reason(s) why; and finding ways to focus.

For me to not procrastinate, I have to do whatever it is I need to do as soon as I get up without giving it a second thought. Otherwise, I set myself up for failure by telling myself “I will do it later”.

This makes me feel empowered. It is a feeling like no other.

This sense of control gave me the motivation to prioritise the rest of my day. I became more organised and clear-headed. I was more objective about my decision making and I started saying no to too much work. This in turn made me more productive because I wasn’t tripping over time.

“If you want more time, freedom, and energy, start saying no.” — Anonymous

Good Days Gave Me Good Nights

My sleep was all over the place. I didn’t usually struggle to fall asleep, but I often woke up in the night and stayed awake for hours on end. Anxiety hit me hard at night.

“People with anxiety disorders are inclined to have higher sleep reactivity, which means they are much more likely to have sleeping problems when facing stress.” — Sleepfoundation.org

It was no wonder that when my anxiety reduced, my sleep improved almost immediately.

We all know that anxiety can impact a person’s mood and concentration levels. When I started waking up early and doing things for myself first, I relaxed and became more optimistic about the day. Feeling better, my days automatically went better and my productivity increased.

I would go to bed reflecting on the good parts of my day and looking forward to tomorrow. It was the decrease in stress that enabled better sleep.

“A well spent day brings happy sleep.” — Leonardo da Vinci

It is important to note that if you’re going to be getting up 1 to 2 hours earlier every day, it will be tiring at first because your body won’t be used to it. After a couple of weeks, however, you will feel like a whole new person.

You need to compensate for your early wake-ups with an earlier bedtime — make sure you’re getting at least 7 hours every night and you’ll be good to go. This, again, happens over time, so be realistic and don’t expect amazing results overnight.

My focus shifted from the anxiety stirred by what-ifs to the excitement of what’s to come.

For once, it’s a positive catch-22. If you go to bed excited about tomorrow, you will have a good day today. And you’ll get really good quality shut-eye in between.

Takeaways

I repeat it is my attitude that changed first. I decided I did not want to feel how I did, so I decided to do a number of things to help me change my mindset and feel good.

Waking up early was one of them.

Reward yourself by doing what you love first. Forgive yourself for not having done what you wanted sooner, and focus on your goals now.

Giving myself the undivided attention that I deserved made the rest of my life much more livable. I don’t wake up feeling nervous anymore. My mental health has stabilised and any stress or anxiety that I get now is temporary and minimal.

Waking up early will help you not only realise your short-term and long-term goals, it will help you feel fulfilled in the present moment. And that’s the key, to increase our feelings of contentment. It is the increase in self-love that reduces stress, anxiety, and fear.

Gain control of your time, do what you love when you know you won’t be interrupted, conquer life by becoming more productive, and get better sleep.

There is a reason why you hear of successful people who have an early morning wake up routine. They give themselves a powerful amount of time in the morning.

Oprah gets up at 6:02 to meditate before she’s at work at 9 AM. Mark Wahlberg gets up at 2:45 AM to exercise and play golf.

I might not recommend the 2:45 wake-up, but I’d say 5/6 AM is doable, especially if you have a 9–5 job.

Go get ’em, and let me know how it goes!

Sylvia Emokpae is passionate about self-love and motherhood. See more work like this.

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