The sounds of my alarm seep into my dreams and the bright lights of my bedroom shine directly in my eyes. As the time glows back “5:00 am”, I force myself up to get ready for school. I never want to get up at 5am, but it’s what I have to do in order to get to school on time.
This routine’s been established for me ever since I was 5 years old. In elementary school I used to wake up at 6:30am to get ready, then in middle school when it used to start at 9:30am. It’s always taken me an hour to get to school throughout my academic years. It’s always (and still is) been me and my mom on the bus together every morning going to school, and every night returning home.
There was one person I could relate to though, my childhood best friend. We lived near each other and rode the same bus to and from elementary school for all 6 years. The hour long bus rides gave us time to talk about anything and everything random that 2 elementary school aged kids would yap about. Unfortunately, we went to different middle schools, which ended our yap sessions on the bus.
The entirety of middle school was a blur but the bus rides drastically changed. I rode the 8BX for even longer but at least I now had a phone to entertain me rather than a person. I would blast music through my headphones and ignore the sounds of everyone around me except for my mom, who’s always (and still does to this day) on the bus with me to and from home. These bus rides felt draining and no longer fun.
Each bus ride felt longer and more draining every time. Music was no longer loud enough to mute the sounds of passengers or the stop announcements.
Now in high school, I wake up at 5:00 am just hoping to make it before the second bell rings. It used to be really easy to just get up and get ready. Now, it’s like I’m battling myself in a 1 vs 5, and I’m definitely not winning.
For a while, I despised the fact I lived so far away from my schools. The fact that I had to wake up earlier than all my friends to get to school. They would just be waking up, when I’d already been sitting on the bus for half my ride. Over time though, I’ve become less bitter about the situation and realized it was just the cards dealt to me in life.
Currently, bus rides in high school are much better. I adapted to having just me and my phone on bus rides and that made things easier. My music taste got better and I still continue to blast music through my headphones while on the bus.
I’ve come to the realization that waking up early isn’t always that bad. I never have to adjust to earlier wake up times as that’s my normal wake up time. If I ever need to finish work, I can always get up early to finish it. For example, I woke up just 30 minutes earlier to get ready for school when I had to take the AP exam. It wasn’t that drastic of a shift which was nice. Early morning bus rides have allowed me to become more productive in the mornings and establish discipline for myself to get things done.
