Students share how they prepare for the day
Whether awakening peacefully as the sun rises or jumping out of bed hurriedly at the sound of a fourth alarm, mornings dictate how a student will spend the rest of their day. Mornings are preparation for the rest of the day, and everyone has their own way of dealing with them. Some people wake up early to jump-start their productivity while others sleep in after a long night of work. Some eat breakfast, while others forgo the meal in favor of caffeinated drinks.
Many people cite a morning routine as a key component to their success — The Guardian published an article about how CEOs tend to wake up early and ruthlessly schedule their days. Here are the routines that some students at UC Davis have established for themselves.
First-year biochemistry major Chloe Tannous typically wakes up around 6 a.m. on weekdays. After showering and getting dressed, she has a skincare routine she typically does. After, she does her hair and makeup and eats breakfast at around 7 a.m.
“My morning routine helps me prepare for the day by waking me up,” Tannous said. “It also helps me to relax a little bit before my day starts.”
Tannous is satisfied with her schedule and said that there isn’t really anything she wants to change — if she wanted to make any changes, she would. She also stated that her routine has stayed pretty consistent. She recalled waking up to get ready at six even in middle school.
Routines are not exclusive to mornings, of course, and Tannous also has a routine that she follows during the night, along with routines for studying and eating.
First-year food science major Savina Bouathong generally starts her mornings at around 9:30 a.m. with a shower. Other parts of her morning routine include brushing her teeth, brushing her hair and doing her skincare routine as well. Afterwards, she goes to the Dining Commons to eat breakfast and drink tea.
Bouathong finds that her routine helps her start her day on a good note.
“My morning routine is different because now I actually have time to get ready and to eat breakfast,” Bouathong said. “Before I started college, I was always in a rush and tired because I had to wake up at 7 a.m.”
Second-year cinema and digital media major Simon Santos starts his mornings at 9 a.m. Ideally, he would like to get up 7:30 a.m. everyday, but he’s only able to maintain that a few days a week. The first thing he does is read a few news stories on his phone and check the weather to decide what to wear.
Getting ready, which for Santos includes washing his hair, brushing his teeth and doing his daily skincare routine, takes about 30 to 45 minutes. Santos then makes his bed, takes his vitamins, drinks water and packs his bag.
Breakfast seems to be an important part of the morning, reinforced with the common statements like “eat breakfast like a king” and “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Santos tries to eat eggs for breakfast every day, and while that is cooking, he makes coffee. If he has extra time, he reads more articles or watches videos before he heads to campus.
“Completing my entire morning routine without rushing feels so empowering,” Santos said. “It gives me that spark of confidence when I leave the front door. It’s such a small victory, but it sets me up for optimism for the rest of the day.”
Santos doesn’t like the inconsistency of having classes start at greatly different times and said that his wake-up time depends on his class schedule and workload from the previous night. Santos wishes he could incorporate a morning workout into his routine, but said that he is “super lethargic” in the morning and would have to wake up one to two hours earlier to make time for that.
“The days where I need to wake up earlier, I usually have less time to finish my morning routine, so I end up rushing,” Santos said. “And I hate rushing.”
Santos also talked about the difference between his mornings as a college student and his mornings when he was still living at home.
“Before college, my mom helped out with a lot of my morning routine,” Santos said. “She made my coffee, cooked my breakfast and packed my lunch. She is amazing. I just rolled out of bed and there it was all laid out for me. In college, I really have to plan and prepare every single morning independently. And my routine is definitely longer now.”
Written By: ANJINI VENUGOPAL — features@theaggie.org
