Are you "Rise and Shine" or "Stay and Snooze"?

 VS.

Disclaimer: I don't rise well (or quickly) in the morning and I don't shine until after my first oversized mug of coffee! I'm with you Grumpy Cat on Team: "Stay and Snooze".

That said, I've always wished I was more of a morning person. There's articles out there (don't go looking for them now .. trust me they're out there) that claim morning people accomplish more and I want to accomplish more. But how to get motivated on a cold, dark January morning?

"Rise and Shine" (link below) is the name of a motivational YouTube video that I discovered a week ago on my Facebook newsfeed. I believe it was posted by a running enthusiast friend that like me is hanging out on the corner of "Under 40" and "Over 40". And, let me say, I always give my sweat-soaked, exhausted runner friends a "like" from the warm, cozy comfort of my couch or my bed. Seriously, no envy here.

Despite my aversion to taking up running, there was something to this video. Yes, it features runners and sprinters and off-road trekkers going the extra mile and solidifying it with a gold medal performance. Yet, I thought, if this narrator with his Home Depot "Get-Out-There/Let's-Do-This" voice could motivate people to leave their warm bed and pound out a workout, he could motivate me to at least wake up an hour earlier. I pictured the runner's feet representing my fingers on a keyboard, typing away relentlessly as I beat a path to a best selling novel and a coveted movie deal. This video could be the difference! Victory!

I do recall last spring when the Home Depot spokesman convinced me I had the power to create a garden that was Pin-worthy, Facebook boast worthy and a real contender for a magazine spread. I went to Lowe's (maybe here's where it started to go wrong, but that store is closer to my home) bought a few less flowers than I originally intended (because the commercial doesn't tell you how quickly all this "do-this" gardening can add up on the wallet) and set out to create flower paradise. The end result: a weed paradise with a few flowers struggling to survive.

I wouldn't let that setback hold me back. It's January. I have resolutions that need to start being kept. And this video is going to make that happen. So I downloaded a sound bite from the first minute of the video and set it as my alarm at an early time (well, an early time for me ... such as, the-sun-wasn't-up-quite-yet early). And then, I went to sleep.

At a ridiculously early time, I heard the words, "Rise and Shine," from a deep male's voice that sounded nothing like my husband's morning grumble. I sprung up, freaked out by the unknown voice still talking. I completely forgot my good intentioned alarm choice. No more soothing wake-up song today. Nope, just the creepy Home Depot-like spokesman in my ear; which in the dark, cold morning sounded less like a motivational revery and more like a serial killer. "Rise and shine, I'm coming to get you!" If you write horror (which I'm sure loads of horror writers flock to this feel-good blog about motherhood, life and novels), this idea of a rise-and-shine-creepy-voice character is golden.  I mean, just saying, from my own experience, nothing wakes you up like ripples of fearing for your life first thing in the morning (however briefly it lasted).

Score one for the motivational soundtrack for all the wrong reasons! In this case, the adrenaline surge did cause me to become fully awake and alert.

As of this morning, I've changed my alarm setting. Still, I continue on my quest to make the most of my morning hours and stamp out a third novel in the same spirit of my marathon running friends who keep going without giving up!

As promised, here's the link for the video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuPLxQD4akQ
Let me know what you think! Are you "Rise and Shine" or "Stay and Snooze"? Comment here or on my Facebook Page!