Musical accompaniment:  Sometime in the Morning by The Monkees, November Nights by Gram Parsons, and Ain’t We Got Fun? performed by Peggy Lee

I would love to be a morning person. Mornings are peaceful and dewy and full of promise. Morning people don’t have to scramble. They can take their time getting ready and plan all the things they want to do. And most of the world is on a daytime schedule so that’s another advantage. The morning people I know are such happy, serene people too.

Morning Dew by Kaburagi Kiyokata:

If you’ve heard of circadian rhythms, you know people have a natural internal clock that regulates their waking and sleeping patterns, body temperature, and other things.

I’m not a morning person. I’m often awake early but that’s not the same thing as being a morning person. Of course anyone can tamper with their internal clock. But if I make myself go to sleep early, I’ll miss the time of day when the creative magic happens. Still, there are times I’d gladly trade evening creativity for morning serenity!

Alvin Langdon Coburn’s 1910 picture Broadway at Night:

There’s a wonderful visualization of wake-up times of famous authors relative to their productivity on the marginalian. If you’re more of an evening person, it will cheer you up to see success isn’t necessarily tied to being an early riser!

I haven’t lost hope that one day I’ll become a morning person. Supposedly, every cell in your body is replaced every 7 years. So maybe one of these days,  the right cells will be replaced at the right time and I’ll become a morning person! (By that logic, there’s also a chance that I’ll wake up one day and discover a latent genius for astronomy or electronics. You never can tell.)

Here are a few beautiful morning pictures.

Clarence H. White’s 1907 picture, New England Street:

 

Clarence H White’s 1906 picture Morning – The Bathroom:

 

 

I’m curious if you’re a morning or evening person, and have you ever tried to shift your internal clock?