Schedule Switchup: Staffers Switch Morning Routines

Staffers Sophie Henschel and Sydney Newton are polar opposites when it comes to the morning. Sophie is a morning person, and Sydney is not. Follow along as they switch morning routines for a day.

If you asked any of my friends to describe me, their first answer would be early bird. 

Up at 5:45 a.m. each day for some quick yoga and a shower, I’m then able to get ready, drinking my morning cup of joe and finish up some homework before I sign on to my first hour class. To set a positive tone for the rest of my day, I hold my mornings near and dear to my heart. But today was different. Today I lived out the dreadful online school morning routine of Sydney Newton. 

I’ll give it to her, she gets her full nine hours of sleep per night and still somehow manages to make it to her first hour in one piece after rolling out of bed at 7:35 a.m. — something I will never understand. I need an hour or two in the morning to mentally prepare myself to take in all the new information the school day will bring, but I guess that just isn’t a necessity for Syd, and probably most “normal” teenagers. 

Setting my love of the mornings aside for a day. After hearing my alarm screeching in my ear at 7:35 a.m., I hopped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth before showing up to class in a hoodie and sweats. I signed onto my first hour class two minutes late, more flustered than I’ve ever felt. Not a good way to start my morning. 

About halfway through first hour is when I hit my hardest obstacle: coffee deprivation. I’m an avid coffee drinker, so by this time of morning, I typically would’ve had at least one cup, if not two. Today I had to wait until my teacher stopped lecturing about industrialization to frantically run upstairs, snatch my favorite mug from the cabinet, pour what was left of the coffee pot and run back downstairs before I missed something. 

My constant desire to fall right back asleep — which was evident from the visible dark circles around my eyes — was tremendous. I’m usually fully awake, ready to go and have already completed multiple tasks by the time I open my computer. But today, I felt like I was still in bed ready to slam snooze. 

Although I have a negative opinion regarding this online-school lifestyle Sydney chooses to partake in, I will say that I have not been that well-rested in a while. I did feel like falling asleep all day, but I also was running on more than my normal five hours of sleep, which was a fairly nice change once I got out of that morning slump. 

All in all, I’m very happy that this morning routine works for Sydney, but from here on out, I’ll stick to setting my alarms for 5:45 a.m.

Sophie Henschel and I are complete opposites when it comes to mornings: I base mine off sleep, she bases hers off productivity. My morning routine consists of choosing the first sweatshirt I see in my closet and what I call speed-brushing my teeth, so I can soak up every last minute of my warm bed. 

Sophie is a type-A kind of person. As the most organized person I know, she enjoys making homemade vanilla lattes and uses her planner religiously. She practices yoga regularly and makes to-do lists that she actually finishes — all before the sun rises. I decided to take a break from my normal nine hours of sleep and try out this morning routine Sophie swears by.

Putting aside my love for sleep, I set multiple alarms for Sophie’s regular 5:45 a.m. wakeup call — earlier than I’ve been awake all year — to start out my morning. I did a 45-minute virtual yoga class, showered, washed my face and got dressed for the day. Considering I normally attend online school still in my pajamas, this unusual start to my day woke me up and forced me into a productive mindset. For the first time in the history of my online school career, I was actually able to keep my eyes open during first hour. 

The real challenge came when I had to do makeup. For me, makeup is strictly for dances, and I’ve never actually done a full face of makeup myself. Trying to complete my makeup like Sophie does, I was able to apply some concealer and borrow one of my mom’s powders, along with curling my eyelashes — mascara was too much of a challenge at the crack of dawn. That said, it was a nice change to join class looking semi-presentable. 

After making myself coffee and grabbing a cup of water, I finished my morning off by journaling, which was by far my favorite part of Sophie’s morning routine. I wrote down three wins from yesterday, three wins to strive for today, three things I’m grateful for, a daily affirmation and my to-do list for the day. The journaling started off my morning in a positive and thankful way, and the to-do list reaffirmed what I wanted to get accomplished. 

The early morning wake up call kept me awake for my first two classes, which I did at my desk instead of my bed — a first for me — but the sleep deprivation hit me during third hour when I had to take my Calc test. I could barely keep my eyes open and couldn’t focus on any of the problems in front of me. The productive morning woke me up before school, but couldn’t keep me awake the whole day in the same way that my usual nine hours of sleep does. 

Sure I felt very awake during first hour and accomplished more in the morning than I normally do all day, but I’ll stick to my 7:35 a.m. wake up calls over my afternoon slump.