Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Experiment #1 Control Observation: Early to bed, Early to rise

I like to stay up late. I REALLY like to stay up late, but every morning I moan when my sweet, early-rising husband brings in the baby for his morning feeding. On weekends my sweetheart whisks the baby away post haste and I snuggle in for another hour or more. On weekdays I linger in bed until either my oldest two demand breakfast, or I feel too guilty to stay a minute longer.

This may sound very luxurious and cozy. While reading this you may feel completely jealous of my amazing husband (I won't discourage that he IS pretty terrific.) However, there is a price for starting my day later.

On weekends my absence downstairs encourages the use of the tv and Amazon Prime as the first thing we do on Saturday. When I finally show up in my pajamas I frequently join my little flock for the end of a show and maybe two or three more 20 minute cartoons depending upon how much I get into the story. At that point my hubby and I look at each other and decide who will make breakfast and what to make as it is now 10 AM and breakfast time is quickly turning into lunch. Occasionally when I have actually planned something on the weekend like a shopping trip or an activity, the lateness of the hour is used as an excuse for no one to make breakfast and we eat out instead.

During the week I rush to get ready (kind of) sometimes I just hang out in pajamas. I throw some breakfast together for the kids ( which I may or may not eat as I am more picky than my little monsters that eat anything). I force myself to do a lesson with my girls, I am currently homeschooling a kindergartner and a preschooler. Lunch again is way off and kind of thrown together. By now I am winding down big time. The rest of my day blurs most days in a hazy mess. I neglect to get anything done and I find myself frequently looking at the clock longing to have my husband home so that A I have another adult around, B we can have another discussion about who's making dinner/ what are we having (leading once again to frequent patronage of our local eateries,) and C the kids can finally be chased to bed.

My hypothesis: Going to bed late and rising late influences our finances, productivity, and general well-being in a negative way. Going to bed early and rising early will lower our cost of food, allow more time for getting things done, and improve my energy and motivation.

Experiment: Everyday for a week I will go to bed at 9 PM and rise at 5 AM

I certainly don't expect things to turn around overnight, but I believe that changing my habits will lead me to greater joy in my life.

3 comments:

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  2. Cool! I love that you are trying new things and trying to be a better mom (which you are already a pretty dang good one). I'm excited to see how this works for you. Are you getting your kids up that early as well, or just you?

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