I’ve been doing my Getting Up Early Challenge for about three months now. It started with a 30-day run, then another 25-day stretch, and now I’m in my 75-hour challenge — where waking up early is one of the rules.

At first, it was all about discipline. For the first few rounds, getting up early still felt like dragging myself through mud — I had to push, argue with myself, and find reasons not to snooze. But somewhere along the way, something changed.

I noticed that waking up early started to feel… normal. Not easy, exactly, but natural.

I think the biggest difference is that I began going to bed earlier too. I used to think you had to “force” yourself to wake up early, but actually, when you keep doing it, your body starts to want to sleep earlier. The rhythm builds itself.

Now, maybe once or twice a month I still stay up too late — sometimes for no reason, sometimes just because I get emotional at night. On those mornings, getting up is still a struggle. But even then, I get up. I’ve never broken the challenge.

Something else I’ve noticed: whatever I plan to do in the morning, I tend to finish it easily. The effort feels lighter somehow.

This morning, for example, I went on a biking trip with my friends. I live farthest from the starting point, so I had to get up earlier than everyone else. The old me would’ve complained, feeling groggy and heavy. But this time, when I woke up, the sky was still dark — and I just got up. No resistance. No excuses.

That moment reminded me of my first half marathon. Back then, I had to wake up around four or five to get ready, and I remember how miserable I felt — like my body was rejecting the morning. But now, if I had to do something early like that, I know I’d be fine. I wouldn’t feel that inner fight anymore.

And that, honestly, feels like a reward. Getting up early used to be a test of willpower. Now it feels like a part of who I am.

Morning isn’t torture anymore — it’s quiet, clear, and full of possibility.

And at night? I’ve realized nothing urgent really happens. People go to parties, dinners, random hangouts — but that’s about it. The real movement in my life happens in the morning.

So, this small shift — from struggling to wake up, to simply waking up — is one of the most meaningful results of my experiment so far. It’s not just about the time I wake up. It’s about who I’m becoming when I do.