I recently learned a rather poetic way of describing morning people vs. night people – are you an owl, or are you a lark?

While I’m not quite a night owl these days, I always wished I was a morning lark. I do enjoy mornings – once I’m already up. I struggle to get myself out of bed, and for no good reason. I get plenty of sleep, have very little to burden me in terms of responsibilities (i.e., no kids or dogs), and overall I am a healthy person. But when that alarm goes off, I just want to snooze some more. Five more minutes please!

That all said, I think some of it has to do with my location. When I lived in California, I found it fairly natural to be up and at ’em by 7:30. I think part of this was because — although I only worked part-time — my schedule called for some pre-dawn wake-up calls. But I think the bigger reason was the extent to which I was exposed to Nature and her rhythms.

Living “West of the 5”, I had no need for AC, so my windows were open practically year-round. This allowed me to wake up to pastel sunlight, lyrical bird melodies, and the subtle, distant murmur of frothy ocean waves rushing a pebbled coast.

Here, the weather is seldom fine enough for open windows, so I can’t hear the few sounds of Nature the big city has to offer (there are some!) My house — while adorable and cozy — is more of a cave, with few windows from which to watch the world go by.

I’m not good at forcing myself to get up earlier when I don’t have to, so here’s hoping it comes naturally to me again, even if it means moving back to Cali. Okay, okay – especially if it means moving back to Cali 🙂