Why I Stopped Sleeping in on the Weekends

I’m not a fan of waking up early. But, I do it anyways because I have to. I have to wake up semi-early for work from Monday through Friday just like the lot of us who are heading to a 9–5 office job.

And I can only feel sympathy towards those individuals — like my boyfriend, an elementary school teacher — who have to wake up much earlier than I do.

Up until fairly recently (within the past two years or so), I frequently slept in on the weekends. When I was in my early twenties, my Friday nights typically consisted of drinking with friends until nearly dawn. Then, I’d stay in bed until 10am, 11am, or 12pm the next day. I’d hit the snooze button more times than one should be allowed to on an iPhone.

To some, that may not seem too shocking, but to others, unimaginable.

I used to be on the side of the fence where it was perfectly normal, perfectly acceptable, to sleep in on the weekends because well, I thought that’s what weekends were for — For vegging out and being a complete waste of life.

I always figured, “Why wake up early if I have nothing to do or nowhere to be?”

That is, up until my priorities started shifting. I started realizing how valuable time was and how much I could accomplish in an entire weekend.

To give some context, I’m a pretty avid runner.

I’ve ran more than a handful of half-marathons and full-marathons. Beyond that, I’ve ran many shorter-distance races — More than I can probably count. And to do so, it requires a great deal dedication.

When you’re preparing for a race of such distance, you need to make time for training — I learned this the hard way.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m not a fan waking up early, especially on weekends. But regardless of how much I despised it, I had to wake up early when I was training for my half and full marathons.

It required long runs on the weekends going as far as 20 miles. And a majority of the races that I ran were in the fall which meant that I was training during the peak of summer.

The summer-time on the East Coast of the US can be merciless. You can never really predict the weather. And if you are outside running on one of those 90+ degree days, you better hope that you’re finished by noon.

Again, I also learned this the hard way.

I learned the value of waking up early on the weekends because I realized that the possibilities of what I could accomplish were endless.

Having ran those races, I was so proud of what I allowed myself to accomplish when I actually made the time for it.

And from there, writing came into play. And cooking. And baking. And playing music. And cleaning my apartment. Managing my finances. Organizing my life. The list goes on.

I had finally begun to understand why time management was such a necessary skill — Because once you’ve gotten a hold of understanding the cadence of how quickly (or slowly) you do things, then you can strive for any goal that you set your mind to. You just have to make the time for it.

And that starts with waking up early on the weekends.

Now, I’m not trying to guilt-trip you into waking up early every single weekend for the rest of your life or depriving yourself of sleep when you really want (or need) to — Everybody deserves a relaxing morning to catch up on some shut-eye.

I’m just saying that you shouldn’t waste your weekends. Even more-so, you shouldn’t waste your days.

Time is a precious thing. There never seems to be enough of it, which is why sometimes, you need to make time.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this article, check out “Before You Quit, Just Remember This One Thing”