Waking up early is amazing - I have no idea why I don't do it all the time. Okay I know darn well why I don't do it all the time, but on these mornings when I do get out of bed with hours to spare, it takes all the emphasis off my workday and pads it out with my actual life. Which is awesome. And feels better.
This morning I was up with the sparrows and logged in to a live web tutorial for Beginners Ruby on Rails programming. Two hours later I had a robust development environment installed on my MacBook Pro; spun up my very first Amazon Web Server; and had the whole GIT versioning and repository process demystified (because it had been a bit confusing to this novice up until then).
Why, Michelle, at your age, are you attempting to learn programming *again*? Especially when you've proved over and over again that you just do not have the brain for it. Because, Gentle Reader, I love making things, and not knowing how to program is a real hinderence to that. Plus, I believe through hard work (just forget that I'm lazy for now, okay?) and perserverance (comments not appreciated) I reckon I can become a truly mediocre programmer!
And yes, I remember that I said "nothing new" this year was about "refining" but hells bells, and shush.
But back to the waking up early lark - it's feels really virtuous and invigarating even though right now I'm feeling a little yawny - that would be cured with some fresh air, I'm sure - I will definately be setting my alarm for 5am again tomorrow with a firm agreement with myself to lay off the snooze button for a stupor-inducing 30 minutes of lie-in. It really did ruin me after waking bright eyed with the alarm then dozing for another 30 minutes, waking up tired and having to force myself from my slumber-rest.
PRO TIP: get up with the alarm (or when you wake before the alarm), go to your bathroom and brush your teeth, then drink a large glass of water, and wash your face. This ritual works a treat for saying "hey body? today has begun!" - coming back to make your bed helps an awful lot too. (based on one time, but it was one successful time)