When you’ve been waking up as early as I have for school, camp, and whatever else I spend my time doing, very little motivates you to wake up and get out of bed in the morning.

Sure, you have ambitions and life goals, but these pursuits aren’t solely reserved for the early morning. In my case, most of the creative and productive work (mainly writing) that I accomplish happens in the evening.

***alarm sounds***

My mind drifts into consciousness, but I keep my eyes closed. My first thought in the morning is, find that snooze button. I have a bad habit of continually hitting snooze, so much so that my phone looks like this:

It takes me a long time actually wake up, and even longer to get out of bed. In those instances, one of two things finally drives me to move my body: anticipation and obligation.

Anticipation is excitement to do or experience something that I’ve been looking forward to, ironically something that probably keeps me from falling asleep the night before. Maybe it’s the day of a big trip, or an important event, or an ambitious project I have in mind. In most cases, however, what gets me up with a bounce in my step is the idea of a big, homemade breakfast.

Sometimes the best things in life are simple. 

This morning I didn’t even hit the snooze button (of course, I am still jet lagged) because I had planned a breakfast I would cook all by myself.

In case you were wondering, I was planning on making a mocha quinoa bowl that I found through this food video:

I actually ended up making a no-recipe-needed chocolate bread pudding in the microwave, but I digress. (recipe coming soon on Cat the Critic)

More often than not, however, it’s the feeling of obligation I have to myself, my family,  my teachers, etc. to get up. Whether it be to get to class on time or be productive in some way, it’s the thought that I have to wake up now because I have things to accomplish, not the things themselves, that inspire (force is actually a better word) me to wake up in the morning.

Daily Prompt