"The sea's only gifts

are harsh blows, and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I know that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing the blind, deaf stone alone with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head." -Into The Wild.

waking up early vs. sleeping in

I love waking up early. My day just seems longer and more productive. And I'm not talking about waking up at 7am, I'm talking about 5am. 7am is early yet a bit too late for me. At 7am most people get up for work.. traffic starts to jam. At 5am the city's still asleep.. traffic is great and you get to enjoy the peaceful morning. I used to stay up late simply because I wanted to feel the quietness of the night. 5am can give you that peace and quiet, but a better, healthier one.

THE ADVANTAGES OF WAKING UP EARLY:
1) allows you to pursue a healthy lifestyle you've always wanted. This means you can still jog on the beach, inhale some fresh air, and enjoy the beautiful scenery before you head to work at 8am/9am. If you start work at 6am and end at 1pm/2pm, that's even better because you have the rest of your day doing whatever you want.

2) Waking up early gives you a fresh, brand new feeling, as if you've just been created . You're now a new person and you're going to start a new beginning. Therefore your day will be a great one. And we all know that positive thoughts get us going, so by having our day started nice, fresh and positive, the rest will follow in the similar pattern.

3) Once you're in such great mood, you start to accomplish more in the day. You have all the energy in the world and ready to take on any responsibilities you have that day at work. Your happy smile can be very contagious and you might get your coworkers and clients smiling all day long :) If you clients smile all day long, expect growth for your company :)

4) I believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Waking up early allows you to have some healthy breakfast and hmm.. you'll live longer ;)

5) Our bodies change starting from the age of 25. Throughout my life I've always observed people and the way their bodies change. Many of us are too busy to take care of ourselves. We sleep late and complain how we got dark circles under our eyes, how our skin is aging and we have wrinkles. Sleeping early is the key to beauty, and also is the key to waking up early! By waking up early you can do the 4 things above and even more.

Some people love to stay up late because thats when everyone's asleep and they can enjoy the peace and quietness of the night. But it is the same if you wake up early in the morning. The only difference is that your day starts off better if you wake up early than if you sleep late.

THE DISADVANTAGES OF SLEEPING LATE:
- Well... opposite from the above. Expect a shorter day that seems A LOT longer, lethargic, depressing, and well.. "blah."

With all that said, waking up early isn't an easy thing to do. When I was little sleeping in was my favorite. I used to wonder how people can get up so early and I thought I would never be able to do that. The key here is simple: try to do as much as you can in a day, that includes working, cleaning, playing, whatever that get you physically exhausted for the first few days. You'll get tired and start sleeping early. Once you do that for a couple days, it'll automatically put you in that habit of sleeping early.

Enjoy your beautiful, healthy lifestyle!

Somebody told me

that life is like a bus. You meet those who stay on the bus with you forever, and you also meet those who only stay for a short period of time. People get on and off the bus. The old ones go but the new ones will come.

It just sucks to say goodbye, but hopefully we will meet again at the next stop.