How do you ease into your day?
and do you in fact- ease – into your day? Maybe you’re like a cyborg; a Type A personality who jumps out of bed a second after the alarm goes off to jog 1km before breakfast. If you’re one of these people I envy you. Maybe you’re not so disciplined. Not quiet so driven. Maybe like me, you reconsider that alarm clock daily. You consider throwing it across the room because most of the time you are bone weary soul tired. But, you get up anyway, because you have to – because you have a hundred things to do – you know, lunches to pack, breakfast to make…etc, all before the commute to work.
A lot depends on sleep or the lack thereof. My sleeping patterns have changed a lot over the years.
Have yours?
When I was younger I survived on maybe, 5hrs sleep. My eldest son has taken after me and thankfully learned to keep himself busy from when he was a toddler. My sister (also a light sleeper) and I used to read to each other and play at being ‘weather forecasters’ to a television audience of dolls with oddly enough, the moon and stars as a backdrop. We didn’t have a VCR or DVD player in our house back then. My eldest son, let’s call him ‘M’ learned to use the DVD player around the same time he started walking and despite an array of Disney and Pixar productions to choose from he always – and I mean always – played The Lion King in the sitting room under his ‘baby’ blanket. If I wasn’t such a sleep-monger and a bad parent to boot I would have insisted on him watching Barney & Friends because The Lion King isn’t exactly suitable viewing for a small child.
This habit of his continued through primary school so much so that his day simply wouldn’t ‘start’ without a scene of The Lion King. Of course in high school this habit fell away because he went through various growth spurts (all those sex hormones make you tired) and needed his sleep and also because he assured me then, he wasn’t a ‘baby’ anymore.
Now that he is in college but still living at home, he basically sleeps whenever the mood strikes or his eyelids droop. He has also started re-watching his favourite movie (and its sequels). Simba, Mufasa and the rest of the pride are back in the house 🙂
My son taught me something about how to ease into the day. No point rushing out in sweatpants in sub zero temperatures when you can wake slowly. There’s something to be said about making the time for early morning reflection or meditation. It sets the ‘mood’ for the rest of the day.
For a few years now I have been getting up thirty minutes earlier so I can write in my journal (inspired by Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages) and to reflect on a chapter in the Bible and/or a poem. I manage this only because I get to bed earlier. I have learned over the years that I need 8 hours sleep a night. No more and no less. If I get less I look and feel and sound like I am stuck in a wind tunnel. Nothing and nobody makes sense. If I get more sleep- the day is lost. As in lost, lost, lost. Time wasted.
How many hours of sleep do you need to feel your ‘personal best’ in the morning?
Scribblings 
Hi Yolanda, I don’t know why I’m not receiving your posts. It says I’m “following” but nothing comes to my e-mail or Reader…frustrating!
Yes, my sleeping patterns have certainly changed. I used to be able to sleep and sleep, now I wake up every hour or so. I am one of those people you don’t like who jumps out of bed, but usually I don’t need an alarm because I’m already awake. I’m a morning person, so I’m up at 4:30 and at my office by 6:15…depending on traffic. I wish I slept better, but even with broken up sleep, I normally feel rested.
I love your morning routine. That is a great way to ease into your day.
🙂 Oh I like you, I do! I just envy you. A few years back I had to be at work by 7am which meant I had to be up at 5:30am and no matter what I did my brain just wouldn’t ‘wake up’ before 8am. I’m lucky now (benefits of age and job expertise) that I can get to work anytime before noon but I still have to put in an 8hr day so it would be wonderful if I could be up as early as you. Do you get any writing done before work?
I too have come across this problem with the ‘following’ thing…makes no sense. I’ll look into it and see what my investigation turns up.
That’s nice you have a flexible schedule. I do like to get to work early, get in my 8 hrs and split. 🙂 When I used to go in at 7:00, I would do a little writing in the morning, but now it’s after work, but mostly on weekends.