Watch the Sunrise Everyday for One Week, and It Will Change Your Life

I have a challenge for you, and not to be dramatic, but I think it will change your life.

Watch the sunrise every day for one week. Just one week, and see how much it improves your life.

I was going to say every day indefinitely, but as I mentioned in this post, when you aim lower, you are way more likely to follow through with something.

About a month ago, I started watching the sunrise every morning.

It started when I was in Mexico. One morning, I woke up for just a moment. As I was turning over, I opened my eyes for a moment, and from a crack in the blinds, I saw the most incredible sunrise I have ever seen in my life.

I don’t think I’ve ever moved so fast in my life. I ran outside just in time to stand barefoot in the grass under a sky on fire.

It was one of those moments where I was torn between wanting to photograph it to be able to watch it forever, and not wanting to turn my eyes away for even a second.

I stared until every last bit of color faded. Then I made my way back to my hotel room in a slow, dream-like, floating walk.

I can’t even describe the peace I had within me and I carried this sense of ease throughout the rest of my day.

Every morning for the rest of my trip, I woke up to spend the sunrise by the ocean. I sat on the sand, just far enough that when the waves rolled in I could touch them if I wanted to, but I wasn’t getting soaked.

I would watch the sunrise, listen to my favorite music, and just be. Some mornings my mind would wander in a million places, other mornings not a single thought ran through my head. Once the colors faded, I went back to my room, made coffee, and carried on with the rest of my day.

By the time I got home to Colorado, I had fallen in love with my slow mornings with the rising sun. Or maybe it was just the jetlag, but either way, I kept watching the sunrise every morning.

I promise with all my heart, it has made my days 1000% better, and here’s why:

You Get To Watch the Sky Become Flooded With Color

You know, the obvious.

Some mornings, the sky turns to fire. The colors are bright and bold and the contrast in colors truly feel like they’re pouring down on you.

Other mornings the sky is painted in watercolors. Soft tones of colors and even softer clouds. It’s a cotton candy sky.

If you’re like most of us, you have probably slept through more sunrises than you’ve been awake to see. But at some point in your life, I’m sure you have seen at least one sunrise that has blown your mind.

Maybe you had to wake up early for something, or maybe you were just lucky enough to wake up naturally at just the right moment to see it out of your window.

You probably took a picture of it and maybe even made it your lock screen.

Now think about how many of those you slept right through.

Of course, there are some mornings where the sunrise kind of sucks. There will just be a little streak of color following the path of the rising sun. Or maybe it’s so cloudy that one moment it’s dark, the next it’s light, and there really wasn’t a sunrise at all.

Is it a bummer when you wake up early just for a super boring sunrise? Yeah. But that’s how life goes.

No one is that lucky to see a breathtaking sky every morning, and the crumby ones really make you appreciate the really great ones.

But on those days where the sunrise really takes your breath away, the days when it really is that good, oh my lord. That’s all I have to say.

I’m no scientist, but I’m positive there is some sort of chemical reaction in your brain to explain how watching the sky get painted instantly boosts your mood.

So aside from the obvious, how sitting beneath a sky of color is guaranteed to cure any case of the blues, there are so many benefits to watching the sunrise every morning.

Sunrises Are the Peace We Crave in This World

Think about when you’re driving to the airport for that crack-of-dawn flight. You’re sleepy and leaning your head against the cool window and watching the sunrise. You probably don’t even notice the little smile on your face, but everything just feels right.

I think that drowsy, half-awake feeling is part of what makes sunrises so good. You get to watch the sky look like that in a dream-like state through drowsy eyes.

For just a few moments, you forget anything else in the world exists. You’re too tired and distracted by the beauty to worry about anything.

You don’t have to think twice about what you look like, just roll out of bed and be there. I hope your hair is wild and messy and it’s okay if there’s still sleep in your eyes.

The world is still asleep, it is truly just you and the sky.

There probably won’t be any notifications popping up on your phone, and you don’t have to talk to or explain yourself to anyone.

You can just be.

You can move as fast or slow as you choose. You can sit in one place and stare or move around if that’s more comfortable. You can sit still long after all the colors have faded.

Your time is fully yours, and you can do what you want with it.

It Almost Guarantees a Slow, Easy Morning

Waking up for the sunrise means you’re waking up earlier. By simple math, this means you are going to have more time in your morning.

Not to mention the fact you have just witnessed one of the most beautiful things to occur in the world, so you’re gonna be feeling pretty happy and peaceful.

This is the perfect combination to slowly sip at what may be the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had. You can take the time to make a yummy breakfast that will give you the energy to carry out the rest of your day. Or maybe you take the time to get some work done. You can work at whatever pace you want, either way, you’ll be getting work done, leaving you more time later in the day.

You can do whatever you want. The time is yours.

Take your morning moment by moment and let the peace and happiness you feel from watching the sunrise guide you and your decisions. However it goes, just go with it.

It Is Your Time, and You Can Make It Whatever You Want

Sunrises are the perfect start to a peaceful, productive day, or the perfect end to a fun, sleepless night with friends.

Sunrises are a time for your mind to wander and think of every possibility in the world, or for your mind to completely shut off for a moment to look at the pretty sky.

They can be the start to an early morning or you can watch and go back to sleep feeling completely at peace.

In no way am I saying you have to start waking up for a gnarly hike at sunrise every morning. You can literally roll out of bed, watch the sunrise, and go straight back to bed.

Just watch it. That’s all you have to do. It’s such a simple thing, and I promise it will make your life better.