I'm not a morning person...or am I?

So for as long as I can remember I've always described myself as being 'not a morning person'. You know that person who struggles to get out of bed and who simply doesn't function all that well at the beginning of the day and who needs a few hours to 'get going'. But lately I've been questioning that belief.

And it is a belief...and one that I don't think was ever truly mine.

I had always been told, since a very young age, 'you're not a morning person' or heard things like 'don't talk to Jayne first thing she's grumpy in the morning'. But I've now come to realise, after decades of believing this particular thing about myself, that it may not be true, and that just because I believe something about myself then it must be set in stone and cannot be changed...or can it?

It is proof that decades of something being said to you on repeat by your nearest and dearest can have a staggering impact on your own self belief and esteem. The repetition of the mantra that 'Jayne doesn't do mornings', that 'Jayne wakes up grumpy' had convinced me that that was just the way I was. Because if everyone was telling me that then it must be true and I simply had to accept that me and mornings just didn't mix.

But you know what? Me and mornings actually get on pretty well...in fact I'd go so far as to say that getting up early and embracing the day is one of my favourite things! So what has changed? Why has that belief changed?

So I think we all have things that we believe about ourselves that tend to err on the negative...after all it's easier to believe in the negative than see the positive about ourselves. We live in a world where we are bombarded by idealised images that we think we ought to be like, we have expectations thrust upon us by family, teachers, friends and employers. And so all the time we are trying to live up to everyone else's expectations except our own and as a result we focus on the negative, we quiet the positive and we let other peoples thoughts and opinions dictate who we should be.

I'm sure we've all had the boss who's constantly criticised something or the teacher who told us we wouldn't make it in life or the friend who always seemed to belittle you or the parent who failed to say 'well done'. And when we hear the negative often enough, and especially if we encounter it at a young age, we begin to believe that we must be that person, that we must display those traits and that is just who we are. But these are not who we are, we can be whoever we want to be; we just have to take the time, and effort, to change those beliefs about us.

We can be the person we would like to be, the person we deserve to be, we can be the person that we have always been rather than the person that we have become to believe we are.

A belief is just something we tell ourselves so why not tell ourselves a different story? 

And that is just what I've been doing of late. By taking the time to evaluate what I want my life to be, and who I want to be, I am beginning to discover that there is more to me than what I believed and being a morning person is just the beginning. 

I now embrace the morning, I enjoy starting the day early so that I can make the most of every minute, I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment at getting things done and I look forward to what the day has to offer. So I suppose you could say that I AM a morning person!

And early mornings mean I get to experience sunrises like this!

This realisation didn't happen overnight and in fact it kind of crept up on me. Through being willing to delve into what makes me me, to question who I am and coupled with a desire to want to learn and know more changes are beginning to happen. And I am here for whatever those changes may be. 

I've even discovered that the girl who didn't like exercising actually enjoys getting down the gym a few times a week and throwing some weights about!

Early mornings mean we hit the home gym in our garage
(this was at the very end of my workout so excuse the face I'm pulling!)

At almost 57 years of age I want to be the best version of myself both mentally and physically so that I can enjoy and experience whatever the future may hold. I want to grab life with two hands, give it a massive hug and see where we will go!