Don’t you hate to have your dreams brutally interrupted by the horrible sound of the alarm clock? I know I do. Actually, I kind of love-hate waking up early in the morning.

I was never a good friend of the alarm clock. Almost always hated waking up early (except the Christmas morning). So I decided it was about time to ‘take a break’ from the alarm clock.

Why I Ditched My Alarm Clock

This will probably sound like the most stupid reason ever, but the truth is the ringtone (or whatever it’s called) of the alarm was scaring the shit out of me every morning. And there’s nothing worse than waking up scared due to a horrible noise. The headache is horrible.

I know you can change it to birds singing or whatever, but I simply did not do it. Don’t know why.

Related: 10 Signs You’re Not a Morning Person

Also, in the end, even the horrible radar noise didn’t make me wake up. I would stop the alarm (not even hitting snooze) and turn on the other side of the bed and continue my dreams. 

So, all in all, my alarm clock kind of stressed me out: the ringtone woke me up in a very brutal way, it wasn’t useful at all and it kind of stressed me out in the evening knowing it will go off in a few hours. 

How I Did It

Well, honestly, I don’t remember setting a goal or some action plan for it. I simply turned off the alarm and left my phone where it usually was. I work flexible hours, so going to the office after 9 was not an issue. The fact that I knew there wasn’t any hard deadline to get to the office at 9 helped a lot.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any other tips on this. Just turn it off and don’t rely on it to wake you up the next day.

What Happened Afterwards

Turning off the alarm clock and leaving it to yourself to wake up at the right time in the morning, can give some of us anxiety. I know it did for me.

You know when you have to wake up really early and you can’t actually sleep well during the night because you constantly wake up scared that you missed the alarm?

This happens to me when I have to catch an early flight – pretty much the only situation when I have to wake up before 5 a.m. But not having the alarm clock set did make me feel a little uncomfortable and the first few days were a little different. I would lie if I’d told you I had the best sleep in my life at the beginning of it.

I didn’t feel anxious

Surprisingly enough, this time I did not feel anxious about it. I was fully aware the alarm clock won’t be there to wake me and I was ok with it. I felt a little uncomfortable, but I knew it was ok to feel this way and I embraced it.

I woke up by myself at reasonable hours

This came as a huge surprise for me. I really (like, really) thought I will sleep at noon and that I will wake up with the most terrible headache ever.

I literally had 0 expectations to wake up at a reasonable hour, which for me was 8 a.m. Yes, I have that little faith in myself…

Anyway, in the beginning, I would wake up a little after 8, which was still quite amazing. Slowly, I started to wake up earlier up to 6:00 or 6:30.

The natural light helps. A lot

I don’t know about you, but if there’s no light outside (as it usually happens during winter) it’s almost impossible for me to wake up.

If you want to ditch your alarm clock, I highly recommend doing it during spring or summer. There’s light at 6 a.m. already or even earlier, so just leave the curtains open and let the sun wake you.

Related: How To Wake Up Full of Energy

Identify which things help you wake up slowly and peacefully. For me is the natural light. Maybe having the window open will help you, or having a glass of water next to your bed to grab it and drink it when you open your eyes can help. We are all different and we respond differently to the same stimulants, so find which one works best for you.

Because I’m doing this for a while now, I wake up before the alarm goes off. I still set it during winter due to my complicated relationship with the lack of natural light in the morning. I use the alarm as the plan B, but honestly, I don’t really need it since I wake up (almost all the time) before it goes off.

Going to sleep at reasonable hours

We see this tip a lot, pretty much everywhere. Everyone is telling you to go to sleep at the same hour, so you get to wake up ad the same hour. Pretty logic.

This tactic will certainly help your body knowing when is time to rest and when it’s time to wake up in a natural way. But don’t feel pressured to strictly stick to it.

Related: Why Becoming a Morning Person Is the Best Thing Ever

Maybe one evening you feel super pumped to do things and you end up going to sleep in the middle of the night. Or you feel exhausted and go to sleep at 8. No matter what the scenario is, don’t force yourself, things will pile up. If you went to sleep later than usual because you didn’t feel tired, the next day for sure you’ll feel the need to rest earlier than usual.

So, keep it natural.

What happened after a month?

When I decided to ditch the alarm clock I had 0 expectations. I didn’t expect to wake up, I thought I will be late for work, that I will be more stressed and that it won’t stick. Basically, all the negative things.

Shocker, shocker, it turned into – sort of – a habit. 

My body was somehow used all ready to wake up at a certain hour in the morning, in a more constrained way, so I would say that also played a part. Also, as I praised it already, the natural light was probably the major factor in this whole experiment.

Where am I now?

Well… I still wake up naturally without an alarm clock quite early. It’s been probably almost a year since I ditched my alarm clock. 

I have to confess things get more difficult during winter when there is complete darkness at 6 a.m. But somehow, my body knows it’s time to wake up. During the “dark” season I use my fitness band to gently wake me up. I’m not going back to the alarm clock on my phone ever.

This is one of the coolest things I managed to achieve, without planning it. I hated when Mum woke me up to go to school and I never thought I could actually ‘train’ myself to wake up by myself, quite early in the morning.

This experiment definitely turned out very well for me. Waking up without an alarm clock is amazing. 

Have you ever tried to ditch the alarm clock? How did it turn out for you? Let me know in the comments!