I am not a morning person. Never have been and never will be. I prefer seeing the sunrise because I stayed up all night, rather than waking up for it. I love to sleep. Anyone who knows me will gladly agree. You don't wake me up even a minute before my alarm goes off. I'll curse and yell, turn my alarm off and sleep for another hour.
Then there are days like today where I had to be awake and functioning well before my normal time. How do I manage it? I sleep until the last possible second, rush around like crazy, yelling at myself for not getting up even 5 minutes earlier.
Every year this changes. When my husband is home I'm awake by 7. That's early for me. When he's not home, I manage to make the habit of being up by 9. This morning, I should have gotten up at 6:30, instead I crawled out of bed with literally 20 minutes to shower, get dressed, pack my laptop and writing stuff up, eat breakfast and get out the door.
I need 45 minutes to do all that calmly. So what didn't make the cut? Breakfast. I don't think I've ever taken a quicker shower. Before today, 12 minutes was my best. Managed it in 8 today. It's just not pleasant rushing a shower.
I don't like skipping breakfast. When I finally eat later today, it will open up a floodgate of hunger. I'll feel like I'm starving after I've eaten a full meal. Then I'll be hungry when I'm trying to go to sleep. So I'll finally give up trying to sleep and go eat something. Then I'll sleep, a few hours after the time I wanted to be asleep.
It's a viscous cycle. The only way I've found to get out of it was to simply stay up all night and go to bed on time the next night.
I do seem to be much more productive when overly tired. I would say I'd love to be like this all the time so I would write more, but then I remember my mad dash out the door this morning, my tendency to speed more, and I really don't want to do that. It stresses me out.
I'll (hopefully!) be starting college classes again next semester. The schedule won't require me to be leaving my house until 9:30am, but my husband will be home, so I'll have to be getting up for 7 anyways.
I know 7 am isn't early to a lot of people. My mom-in-law's idea of sleeping in, is 7am. I think she said she gets up at 4:30 every morning. Why? I have no idea.
Point to this post? I'm tired, it's my own fault. But I'm writing. Well, revising. Either way, I am writing new bits while fixing the old. The most fun I think I have when editing is reading over my work and saying to myself "Why did I write THAT?" The whole 'what was I thinking' thing.
Do any of you manage to stick to routines you set for yourself?
Perhaps we are nocturnal twins separated at birth? My husband loves to razz me in the morning because he knows I need it quiet and calm for like the first hour at least.
ReplyDeleteI, too, hate mornings. I would much rather stay up all night and sleep all day. Am I a vampire? My friends kinda think so. But I have to be at work by 9am. And out of the door by 8:30am. Which means, I get up at 8am (if I'm lucky). I let the alarm (radio) play for 25 minutes while I curse having to get up. I can completely relate. So, 7am is early to me! Way way too early!!
ReplyDeleteI once tried to get up that early to jog before work, but that only happened once. Because I HAVE to get up at 8am, I do, but if I didn't have to, it would be hard to stick with it. I am, however, managing to go to bed at a decent time (between 10 and 12pm). I find that making the effort counts enough to make me happy with myself.
*Wildly waves hand* You've just described me perfectly - extremely productive when over-tired (which is just annoying, don't you think?), and hates morning more than just about anything.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, my husband is also a night person. And he has less self-discipline than I do, so guess who has to make sure we're up and out the door on time for work every morning? Hint: it's not him.
Mondays we have to be at work by 8am - which means I have to get up at 5:30am. Yes, it does exist. Tues - Fri we have to be at work by 8:30am, which means I have to be up by 6am. No, I never imagined I'd have to get up this early. Yes, I'd happily forget that any time before 9am exists if I could just win the lottery. But we have bills to pay, and need food, etc...so have to stick to the daily grind. Routine makes it far easier to do that - I'm on autopilot most mornings.
Even though I get up that early...7am is still "early" to me. Weekends I happily sleep in until at least 8:30...more often 10. Good times.
Bedtime is midnight on weeknights...and whenever I feel like it on weekends. :-)
Motherhood has made me write (and do a bunch of other things) not just when I'm most productive at them, but when I CAN do them. Some nights, I'm excercising at 8:00, which stinks. My best writing now occurs whenever the preschooler is not at home...doesn't matter what time it is, as long as Boy is absent.
ReplyDeleteMeg, I love the new picture.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, I'm up at 4:00 for work, but not because I want to be!
These days the time varies. Because of my time off, I'm seizing the opportunity to write as much as possible. Sometimes I write all night long. Today, I was up at 7:30.
Coffee first!
T. Anne – One of my friends knows that I need an hour to ‘wake-up’. We’ll be making plans for a day out and she’ll say “ So I’ll have to get up at 8, so that means you’ve got to set your alarm for 7.” My husband loves to torture me by jumping on the bed if I’m not awake when he gets home from PT. We’re talking about 7:15am. Now that’s motivation to get up even just 10 minutes earlier!
ReplyDeleteSJDuvall – I’ve tried exercising in the morning so many times. It just never works. I have to make time in the afternoon. If I put it off until the evening, I’ll never do it. Doubt you’re a vampire. I would say do you burn in the sun, but maybe you’d only get really shiny?
Jamie – My husband would be late to work all the time if I had to be the one getting him out of bed on time. Thankfully he’s very motivated to NOT be late. Ever. 5:30am is real? It’s not just a myth? *shudders*
Anita – I can kind of get writing whenever you have a spare moment of alone time. When my husband is home I tend to write while he’s sleeping. I think I just compared my husband to a preschooler…oops. :D
Charlie – Thanks! Next step is getting my contacts. I’ve had glasses for 20 years. Yep. I had glasses when I was 2. I’ve come to learn about coffee. I hate coffee. I don’t like the flavor. But I have learned to love it. At least mixed into hot chocolate. Which I have been informed is technically a ‘latte’. Oo la la. I drink lattes!