scott stonehouse

Do you remember waking up early to open gifts on Christmas morning when you were a kid? Did your parents have to come wake you up? Mine didn’t. I was awake before they were. I couldn’t wait.

What about the morning you leave on vacation? Do you have a hard time waking up? Me neither. I am usually so excited that I sometimes have a hard time falling asleep the night before.

Joy is an incredible alarm clock, it seems.

So why do we have a hard time waking up most mornings?

That is a ridiculous question isn’t it?

The answer is obvious. Most mornings we aren’t opening gifts or leaving for vacation. Most days are another day getting kids off to school and/or getting ourselves off to work. Pretty routine. Perhaps dull. The same thing over and over. What’s exciting about that?

But what if it wasn’t like that?

What if each morning were a little more like Christmas or the beginning of vacation?

It can be if we have something that brings us joy planned for the morning.

For some people that could be a walk or yoga. For others it could be reading for pleasure. Perhaps a great cup of coffee with a crossword puzzle or some favorite music. It doesn’t have to take long, it just needs to be delightful.

The idea is to carve out time for yourself first thing in the morning to do something you love. Something just for you before moving on to the responsibilities of the day. Something that would pull you out of bed. Something that might even encourages you to go to bed a little earlier because you are already looking forward to doing it.

It would allow joy to be your alarm clock.

Wouldn’t that be a great way to wake up everyone morning?

I can tell you it is.

Although I still set an alarm for each morning, I rarely hit snooze because I look forward to getting the day started. There are things I do that bring me joy and that help me win the morning, which helps me win the day.

What is something you enjoy that you can plan on doing tomorrow morning? Try it. Test and see if joy is an incredible alarm clock.

P.S. I am pretty sure I got the phrase “joy is an incredible alarm clock” from Jon Acuff. If you haven’t read his book Soundtracks yet, you should. It is excellent!

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