Recently, lawyer Kim Yu-jin, a cast member of tvN's popular program ‘You Quiz on the Block’, revealed her morning routine to viewers. She said she wakes up at 4:30am every day to focus on self-development. The practice, know as the Miracle Morning resonated with the public, especially those in their 20s and 30s who are suffering from COVID fatigue, and are looking for ways to creative ways to stimulate their lives.

   The Miracle Morning is a concept taken from a book of the same name published in 2016. The process involves waking up early, before you officially need to start your day, to study or to exercise or simply do something you enjoy. In fact, Instagram has more than 300,000 hashtags related to Miracle Morning alone. Experts say that the popularity of self-improvement wishes of those in their 20s and 30s is related to COVID-19 depression. People are seeking out ways to regaining their confidence through self-improvement in their daily lives. The reason Miracle Morning has become so popular is because of the "increase in self-esteem" that it imparts on practitioners. Small changes towards healthy habits can increase the self-esteem of practitioners, a chronic problem shared by modern people these days. The Miracle Morning helps people focus on developing their own healthy habits and uncover what they really need to be happy in life. Getting up early in the morning, drinking 1L of water, writing a diary, folding blankets, meditating, exercising, and reading constantly can make you a better person and help you spend your time more efficiently. According to the Ministry of Education's 2020 National Lifelong Education Statistics, 30.2% of Korean adults said they wanted to participate in lifelong learning but could not for various reasons, and 54.2% said they did not have enough time due to work. In these situations, workers who lack the time can develop self-directed skills through adopting the practice of the Miracle Morning. There is a saying, "Studying is a lifelong habit." Currently, not only college students but also office workers and the elderly should always be willing to learn something new for lifelong self-improvement. The term "lifetime education" has been gradually taken for granted, but the Miracle Morning can help us get back on track.

▲ The origin of the term 'Miracle Morning'. (Photo from Kyobobook)

   The Dankook Herald (DKH) recruited participants from the anonymous community ‘Every Time’ for a three-day ‘Miracle Morning’ challenge. The DKH checked the reviews of five students who participated in the challenge over the three day period with sincerity. Park Jung-jin, a student of the Department of Animal Resources, wanted to set the wake-up time at 8am and form the habit of folding her blankets and eating breakfast. She woke up at 8 o'clock in the morning during the three days of her Miracle Morning challenge and folded up her blanket, sharing the photos in a group chat room. If she were doing this on her own, she believes she may have been weak-willed, but seeing the posts of other people's proof of action shots persuaded her to fulfill her commitment. It was also easy to wake up in the morning when she moved her body while folding the blanket, and she was proud that she started this small but good habit. The Miracle Morning challenge was only conducted for three days, but she has continued the same good habits ever since. It was a small sense of achievement for her, but she thought it was a good experience because it made the day more precious.

   Jeong So-yeon, a student in Dept. of Political Science and International Relations wanted to set her wake-up time to 8am and form the habit of drinking more than 500ml of water a day, stretching, and memorizing TOEIC words. She woke up early every morning to read her vocabulary book and drank more than 500ml of water by filling up her tumbler for measure. She woke up early on the first day, but on the second day, she was upset because she slept late. She thought it was not that difficult because she woke up very early on the third day. Even though she heard about the Miracle Morning casually while riding the bus, she thought, "I can't do that because I am weak willed, right?" but in the end she was able to take responsibility for her actions through the challenge held by the DKH. It was good that she had to promise to take a picture of the time she woke up every day using the application Timestamp, even if she did not authenticate it in the group chat room.

   Choi Young-min set his wake-up time for 8am, and tried to form a habit of listening to lectures again, reviewing, and studying. These days, he usually goes to bed at 5am and wakes up around 1 in the afternoon. He wanted to re-set his sleep pattern, but it was not easy. As soon as he learned about it, he decided to take up the Miracle Morning Challenge. Of course, it was better to commit to studying TOEIC, reading books, or other helpful studies, but he decided to commit to practicing simple things. Rather than waking up at 6 o'clock and studying he decided to wake up at 8 o'clock, wash up, and review his major studies. Since he is a returning student in the second grade, he often has a hard time following his major studies, and he always had the habit of not reviewing his lessons. Through this challenge he committed to changing his sleep pattern and developing the new habit of reviewing his work. On his first day of challenge, it was hard for him to get up, but he remembered his freshman year. He didn't want to go back to those days when he had a hard time in regular exams because he didn't review in advance regardless of his grades. He understood the theory of management, which was the most difficult to part to understand, he studied by taking a lecture on business science and taking notes on a computer notebook. As a result, he could not only correct his habits but also spend the day fruitfully. There is a saying that says, “the early bird catches the worm.” He felt that this process was enabling him to catch that much needed prize of good grades. His overall goal was to record his wake up time using the timestamp app, change his life routine, and have a happy and fun day.'

▲ The screenshots from 'Miracle Morning' participants. (Photo from The Dankook Herald)

   During the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, most people are going through challenging times as it has postponed or canceled many events, limited a lot of our favorite activities including parties and sports. And the time spent face to face with friends is also being postponed due to strict social distancing policies. Although everyone reacts differently to the situation of an infectious disease outbreak, it is normal to feel overwhelmed by hopelessness and despair. Therefore, it is important that you take care of your mind as well as your body. The ‘Miracle Morning’ challenge can be one of the ideas that help us in our struggle to maintain our mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.