I could have sworn that I shared this tip already, but a perusal of my archive says no. So here we go!

Now that Spring has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, my days are no longer dark and dreary and I find it easier to get energized because the sun is back! Except for that brief period during the eclipse, of course.

To maximize this energy and get into a routine for Spring and Summer, I like to do a process I call Waking the House.

Whenever I wake up, my first task of the day is to take the puppy outside to pee. He’s well trained to sleep in the crate but after 10-12 hours he needs to go asap. While we’re outside I try to stretch and wake up. Thankfully my backyard faces east so I can see the sun coming up over the town and take in the light.

Back inside, I make it a point to get fully dressed, make my bed and wash my face. These basic self care tasks prevent me from falling back into bed, turning off my alarm, and then waking up sleep drunk three hours later.

Then, I systematically go room to room to open up the curtains and let in the sun. In some rooms I simply pull the curtains back or raise the blinds but in every space I let in as much sunshine as possible, effectively waking the house.

Usually I do this with a sense of gratitude.

Hello office, ready to take on business and the world? Wake up computer, it’s time to get to work.

I might admire how the sun shines on my newly painted kitchen cabinets which I renovated myself and absolutely love. Or appreciate how spacious my laundry room is as I move sheets to the dryer and toss in some wool dryer balls.

On occasion I’ll find something… unwanted, such as a puppy accident, a stray ice cube which escaped the freezer and has been melting on my floor, or a spill of some sort. Even then, I don’t resent finding such an issue, I appreciate the visibility and work to fix it as quickly as possible.

The earlier I get up and wake the house, the more hours of light I get to enjoy. On days like this one, I might be up at 7am and sunset won’t occur until nearly 8pm. That’s almost 13 hours of light and, in good weather, fresh air coming in the windows.

If you need a few more reasons to give this a try, choose from the following:

• save energy by using sunlight instead of light bulbs to light the house
• naturally fight seasonal depression
• get up and completely dressed first thing
• easier to snoop on the neighbors
• shut down the house by closing windows and curtains at twilight