Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Is it possible to become an early riser?

I am a night owl.

My husband is a night owl.

We operate as if we are still in college.

Each night we stay up until after midnight. We get the kids in bed by 8:30 or 9, then we stay up. Either we are doing housework: cleaning, organizing, doing laundry, paying bills... Or we are working on work stuff: emailing, scheduling, planning... Or we are engaging in miscellaneous activities: blogging, reading, surfing, catching up on the week's TV shows, chatting, or hotsex :).

In my recent efforts to be a better school mom, I made it a goal to wake up early - before my kids. I want to get a leg up on my day. I want to be showered and ready to go before they get up. I want to spend time in prayer and in scripture. I want to have the morning chores out of the way so that I can focus on the children.

One blogger I follow (ZenHabits), gave some great practical suggestions on the merits of early-rising. I'd like to share them with you:

10 Benifits Of Rising Early And How To Do It


My plan is to rise at 6:30am. NEVER BEFORE HAVE I DONE THIS. So we will see how it goes. I have a morning routine printed out. By the end of the week, I will post this morning schedule and my hope is to be able to share with you how the mornings went.

8 comments:

Andrea said...

Good luck on the early morning thing. I still struggle with it, though I have gotten better. Having a child who wakes up naturally at 5 or 6 am every day for 7 years now can do that to a gal.

There's an iPhone app called the sleep cycle alarm clock that I know several people who swear by. I'd love to try it, but I don't have an iPhone.

Kathy C said...

To answer your question, I'd say "no". I am not, nor will I ever be an early riser. However, I have pretended to be one in my children's early years. The best thing we ever did was buy our son an alarm clock. At age 15 he started getting up on his own. I still have to get up to tell him "goodbye...have a great day", but I don't have to "really" get up until I want to...or have to.
So, you still have many more years of pretending to be an early riser. Enjoy it..they grow up way too fast.

Kathy C said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Megan said...

I have been trying to wake up earlier too lately. Jason always wakes up at around 5:45 AM and so I have been asking him to wake me up early. I had to work backwards from around 7:30 am back to 7, then 6:45...and so on. I can usually get up around 6-6:30 now! I never thought it was possible!

@Andrea - I will have to look for that app and try it out!

Anonymous said...

I, too, struggle with this, and love the thought of being a morning person. Unfortunately, I also love being a night owl. I have big plans this year of getting up early - of course, I am going back to work, so I have to get up earlier than I ever have since having kids. I love the idea of doing it gradually. Like, at first, I will just get up in time to get ready before the kids, and I will work into getting up in time to exercise and have a quiet time. The only time I have been successful long term at getting up early was when I was meeting a friend to exercise. I will keep trying! That being said, I better get to bed! Good luck, Nik! I'll be praying we are both successful at our transformation to early risers!

Alayna

Unknown said...

Andrea - I just bought the sleep cycle app for my iphone. Not sure how it will work, as I get up multiple times during the night letting the (not-yet-potty-trained) golden-doodle out, and walking the children back to their beds when they start to gravitate toward mine...
But it's a cool idea. Apparently it gauges your sleep cycles by tracking your movements during the night. I am excited to see how it works. I will let ya know!

Between You and Me said...

I'm doing the same thing..getting up at 6:30...to try to have my coffee, my time with Jesus, and time to do a few of the morning tasks....

it's all glorious until today when my oldest, who usually sleeps until 8, got up at 6:48.

Are you KIDDING me?

If it's a test....I'm gonna win.

praying for you to stick to your plans this year....you pray for me, too!

it's gonna be a sunshine day said...

At least you now know for sure we are all in this rockin boat together. i'll think of you when I wake up every day (uhh hello didn't your babies wake up early way back when..)at 6:30am. Love all the schedules you are making!