Wednesday, July 16, 2008

On waking up early

(This is a follow-up post to yesterday's, so if you haven't read that yet, you may want to scroll down first.)

I'll end the suspense now; I'm sure all of you have been waiting with bated breath to see if I'd wake up early again today. ;) Well, the answer is no. Remember the 17 wild monkeys? I may need to start trying to tame them.

In my defense, I didn't plan to go work out at 6 a.m. again today, thinking alternating days may be a good idea. And I've learned that unless I firmly commit to something ahead of time, it usually doesn't happen. Last night I set my alarm for 6, and said to myself, "Well, maybe I'll try to go again early tomorrow." Recipe for failure. I smacked that alarm off without a second thought. And didn't wake up until 9:00 a.m. (For those of you who don't know, I have late-sleeping kids. The "older" two have been waking up anywhere between 8:30 and 9:30, and the baby usually wakes up at the crack of 11:00.)

But as an encouragement to myself and those who may be morbidly fascinated by the idea of getting up early, I have to make a few observations by way of comparison. I was surprised by a handful of things today:

*I was no less tired today upon getting up at 9:00 than I was after getting up at 6:00 yesterday.

*I assumed that I would crash hard by about 8:00 p.m. last night after getting up so early, but was still able to press through to my normal midnight bedtime without much trouble.

*I woke up grouchy today. Mad at myself for not waking up earlier, frustrated to have to abruptly end my sleep to get my 2-year-old who was (loudly) calling for me, and irritated that even after sleeping late I still felt so completely groggy.

*Yesterday, after working out, I actually was quite peppy from the exercise. And even though my kids woke earlier than usual, I was happier to greet them because I'd already had almost 2 hours to myself.

*Also, even though I had some drowsy parts of the day yesterday, it wasn't any worse than normal. (Will somebody PLEASE find me some amazing vitamins that are small enough for a human being to swallow?)

*I felt way more productive yesterday than I do today, like I was being proactive rather than reactive.



Can you tell I'm trying to psyche myself up to try again? Well, you're on to me. So for those of you who were so proud of me yesterday, I'm sorry to have disappointed you today. But it was for the sake of a little experiment to see which waking time is more satisfying. All in the name of scientific progress.

4 comments:

Grafted Branch said...

Eeeek! I've found a kindred spirit! Only, *my* girls have always been early risers--it's only in the last year or two that they've enjoyed getting up and underway with little supervision from me. (Even though I roll out later than them, I still manage to be ready for morning devotions before them.)

Today, I set a 7:30 orthodontist appointment for Fifi and...wow!...it was glorious to have so much accomplished by 9:30 in the morning! Maybe I can remember this feeling long enough to hit the sack before 11 tonight.

Proactive, not reactive--you hit the nail on the head with that statement.

Shelley Roberts said...

Endorphins are a magical thing, aren't they? Too bad we have to suffer through exercise to get that feeling. This is America, there should be some type of pill for that!

Can you please share what in the world I have to do to get my kids to sleep late like yours? I think I gave birth to roosters... at the crack of dawn, they're up.

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean. On days when I get up early, say 7am, I feel like I am in charge of my day instead of constantly telling my kids to wait until I am dressed to talk to me. I am the morning person who has to be dressed, fed and contacts in before I can carry on a conversation.
I love the idea of exercising before DH goes to work. I may have to try that.

Anonymous said...

I a definitely a morning person (I cannot stay up until midnight). I have been getting up early to work out for a long time...until I had B. Now I am a firm every other day early riser. I like my early days very much, but also need to let my body recover!

Good luck breaking into a new world. Maybe one day I will try to stay up late.