There has always been something special in my mind about waking up early. Early morning days always have great purpose. Most of my life, my early mornings were dominated by 5am swim practice. Later, in my early twenties, early mornings meant exciting days of travel and train rides through Europe. Now, a 4:30am wake up is a combination of multiple things for me — a great workout, a day of travel, or a full, productive day of work — all are exciting. 5am this morning greeted me with joy. I leap out of bed, thankful to finally feel recovered from the harsh cold I fought all week, and excited to get my workout in, start my work day, and eventually head up to my family’s house at the Jersey Shore.
This was my reward for pulling up to the gym at 5:45am. Man, I love Virginia and American Family Fitness.
My favorite thing about mornings though is the camaraderie shared among the morning crowd. Stop at any gas station or stop light, and you will get nods of approval from strangers. I find it to be one of the few times of day where, despite morning grogginess, people as a whole are a lot more friendly than usual. There’s a sort of shared pride among morning-goers; how can you not be inspired by being surrounded by crowds of others who are eager (or perhaps just disciplined enough) to start their day early?
Share the love of the morning commrodarie with others, no matter what time you might be out and about. Smile at strangers, nod and be considerate on the roads, and compliment someone that you don’t know. Small things make the world a beter place; it only takes a spark to start a wild fire.