Waking Up With The Sun = Kanji Updates

This morning, thanks to one of my favorite sites (Philosopher’s Notes), I decided I was going to wake up with the sun. Now, this is totally different from just waking up early, I’ve found (something that we talk about in one of the TextFugu lessons). Normally, when I try to wake up early it doesn’t go well, but this morning felt a lot different. Instead of waking up at a certain time (making it seem like work), I decided to wake up with the sun (setting my clock to 5:24am). This changed the way I thought about waking up completely. I was waking up because I wanted to see something. I wanted to check on the sun, to make sure it wasn’t up to any funny business. I even wanted to beat it.

And, for the first time in a long time, I was able to get up really early. No problemo.

For those of you who are trying to get up early to study your Japanese (and I know for a fact there are quite a few of you out there), give this trick a try. It may make waking up a little easier, and because the time you wake up varies every day by just a little bit, it’s kind of fun as well.

Oh, and it’s incredibly productive.

This morning I finished up the rest of the 4-stroke kanji, and, since it was still really early, I got the 5-stroke kanji going as well, finishing the first level of it and starting the second. It may not seem like a lot, but kanji takes a lot more time to write about than it takes to learn it, so I’m pretty happy. This definitely wouldn’t have happened had I woken up later, as I usually do.

Maybe it’s time to start a secret waking-up-early pact on the secret forums (you know, the ones that require you to be a member to get into).

kanji, sleep, sunrise

http://ramenfanatic.com/ Ramen Fanatic

I'm definitely with ya!

∩( ・ω・)∩ *Skitters off to the secret forum to join the secret waking-up-early pact* ∩( ・ω・)∩
http://www.callistospatches.com Callisto

I'm digging this idea. But it begs the [possibly creepy-sounding] questions-

1. What time did you go to bed?
2. What time do you estimate you fell asleep?
3. How did you manage to get to sleep early enough to wake up that early? As a night owl, waking up at ~5am is a bit intimidating because I'm lucky if I'm even asleep by 1am.

I am definitely not a morning person, but I love the mornings when I do get up early and can relax with breakfast while watching the birds outside start to wake up and all that sentimental junk. It's very relaxing and a really good start to the day, as far as creating a positive mindset.

(I have to imagine the first step for me would be to quit calling myself “night owl” and “not a morning person”, right?)
http://ramenfanatic.com/ Ramen Fanatic

I know what you mean Callisto!

However, I think you just have to think about the situation differently. Just think of the cycle of sleep/awake as what it truly is: circular. You won't have a problem going to sleep early once you've started waking up early. You won't have a problem waking up early once you've started going to bed early. You just have to throw a wrench into the equation at one point or another to get yourself on track.

Just remember, it's normal if the first couple of days or the first week you have problems such as being more tired, etc. But after that, your body should align itself. I've finally realized to let my body sleep when it needs to. There are times I don't get much sleep and so the next day, when I'm tired, I simply don't force myself to remain awake and go right to bed. Even if it is only 6 PM . ^^;