Waking up....to Darkness

Ungh....it's 7:00am. It's Wednesday. It's dark. It's December. Put two and two together and you've got a bucketful of grumpy teenagers waking up to go to school.

Between the months of March and September, getting up at the wee hours of the morning isn't that much of a problem. Why? Mainly because when we awaken, it doesn't look like it's ten o' clock at night outside.  I'm sure we all can agree that rising when it's still dark out is a pain in the you-know-what, and it makes it that much more difficult to tear ourselves from our nice cozy beds onto the icy hardwood floor to get ready for a most definitely exhausting day.

Although there are few ways to make us want to get up so early, here are a few tips and tricks to getting ourselves out of the sack and ready on time to face the piles of snow that await us outside:

1) SET YOUR ALARM 1O MINUTES AHEAD - it makes getting up that much easier. The mere thought of being up at six or seven in the morning is unappetizing as is, but setting your alarm at least ten minutes ahead can allow you to trick yourself into thinking it's later in the day- plus on occasion it'll make you think you're late and get you up that much faster with the added bonus of being ready to go that much earlier.

2) PLACE YOUR ALARM ACROSS THE ROOM - Have issues with pushing the "Snooze" button too many times? Stick your alarm across the room, under your bed, or someplace that will force you to get up and go look for it whenever it rings. That way, you'll be awake more or less by the time you find it. Just make sure it's loud enough to hear from far away!

3) SET OUT WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO WEAR THE NIGHT BEFORE - The purpose of this is to allow maximum sleeping time in the morning and thus more time to slowly rouse yourself out of bed. You'd be amazed at how much time you can save by just knowing exactly what you're going to wear the night before- no more rooting through closets or sock drawers!

4) LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! - If possible, do everything you need to do in one room before you go into the next instead of going back and forth between rooms to get ready. The purpose of this, once again, is to allow for maximum sleeping time and/ or more time to awaken in the morning. For instance, don't wash your face in the bathroom, go back to your room and get dressed, then come back to the washroom to put on your makeup! Instead, get dressed then move into the bathroom and do whatever needs to be done.  You'd be amazed at how much time this saves

5) WEAR WARM PJ'S TO BED - A no-brainer, this will make it easier to get out of bed than if you were wearing lighter sleepwear. Who needs toasty bed sheets when you're wearing something equally as warm?

Follow these tips, and you'll be jumping out of bed ready for the day in no time!