For YEARS I have wished to be a morning person. I set my alarm early thinking of all the wonderful things I could accomplish in the wee morning hours heading to work feeling productive and ready to face the day. I come up with grand ways to rewarding myself. I attempt going to bed early to assist in the whole getting a good night sleep so I'm well rested and ready to wake up. I nap on weekends thinking that I'm just short on sleep during the week and so I'll catch up and then be ready to start the next week. I look at all these morning people and tell myself it's just a matter of practice and I will be one of them, leaping out of bed excited about the day as soon as the alarm goes off...
But all is to no avail. As I sit here at 10:52 writing this blog I believe I'm going to come to grips with the fact that I'm not a morning person. I like the idea of being a morning person because it's so quiet and serene in the morning. The day is full of promise. And something about the sun coming up makes me happy. But, the actual act of waking up and getting out of my bed just really isn't doing it for me. I have determined that while I love the idea of being the early bird that gets the worm, I am not.
And so instead of beating myself up about it I'm going to start just realigning my day and all the things I want to do in the morning, but never do because I hit the snooze button 80 times and wake up with just enough time to get ready and get out of the house. I will plan to read my bible at night, sit by the fire at night, have a cup of tea at night, pray at night, eat dessert or a bowl of cereal instead of enjoying a nice breakfast (which never ever happens because I'm rarely hungry in the morning), sit with the dog on the couch instead of going for a walk (which isn't going to happen as long as it's cold anyway!). I will try to convince myself that it's also serene and peaceful at night - which many times is true. And I'll work on redirecting my idea of the day being ahead of me, to a good night sleep and the next day being ahead of me. We shall see how this works. It's possible that it won't work at all, but then again, clearly the pretending I'm a morning person isn't working so it's worth trying something new...
Great post! I can clearly relate, and now look at it from the other end of perspective (adjusting to my new age).
ReplyDeleteMy father retired when I was still in high school, and continued until he died to get up at 5 AM like he always did for work. I remember thinking how foolish that seemed to me, and why didn't he just sleep in since he didn't have to work. As a teenager, I loved to sleep in late, much to the distain of Thelma. In my 20s, on the occassions I was a morning person, it was generally coming from the other end - I was not yet home from the night before! I experienced many beautiful sunrises.
Throughout my 30s, my kids made me a morning person; while I yearned to be a night person. It leveled out in my 40s and my early 50s; I could be both and managed to accomplish much on little sleep as I was pursing my pasions with great effort. I had finally found my own rythmn in life and I seemed to have endless energy.
Gradually, I have become a morning person again - just like my father. Regardless of what time I retire in the evening (early or even some times very late); I am wide awake by at least 6 AM every morning. And now have learned to cherish the quiet and often watch the morning collect itself slowly and become the day. The beauty of morning sky seems to fit me at this stage in life; as once did the sunset and evening skies in my youth.
Give it time, mornings will become a habit eventually. All good things in their time. Thanks for your writings. You inspire me. Jesse