Momedy Sketch: Ear-Lie in the Mornin’

Today (or yesterday) if I don’t post this in the next few minutes….or that one Tuesday back in August… (if you read this in the future…) Now that we’ve covered the technicalities…where was I? Ah yes. Today/Yesterday/That one time…
Was good. As was yesterday (or that day before that one day)
…Actually life in general is feeling much better lately. (KNOCKWOOD). I am so very grateful to finally be feeling more like myself…I am praying hard that I continue to feel that way. But I’ve also been working on a better lifestyle. I have discovered a radical lifestyle change. Are you ready for this? It’s all sorts of crazy, I’m warning you.
I’m getting up early. You read that right. No I haven’t been hacked.
Here’s the thing. I get up early now. That makes it sound like I’ve been doing this for months. Ok fine..for like…what 5 days now or something I’ve been getting up early. (See? It’s practically a lifelong habit…I can barely remember another way. Ok that’s just a lie…)

4 steps to a better muffin making experience with your host Ms. Ellabeth Sayer. On Good Early Morning Sayer Kitchen….
I don’t know….I’m sorry, but I just feel like you’re not recognizing what a big deal this is. So here are……
5 Things you need to know in order to grasp the enormity of this announcement:
1. I am not a morning person. Nor a midmorning person. By noon I’m still feeling groggy…I start to sort of hit my stride at around 5pm. After an afternoon nap.
2. Since one has to be awake sometimes (right? that’s a rule I guess?) I am, by necessity, a night owl. It is approaching midnight as I write this. This is early in my world. Like 8pm to normal people.
3. I am a chronic insomniac. It’s always been a problem for me. I hate it but it is what it is. No matter how sleep deprived or exhausted I am, going to bed before midnight always seems to make that situation worse. I get the kicky restless legs and everything. I must go to bed almost asleep or not even bother.
4.My alarm lately (and for the foreseeable future) goes off at 5:10am aka “middle of the night sometime”…aka “zero dark-what-the-does–that-time-even-exist-in-civilized-society?”
5. Ella has been getting up several times a night. as is Ella’s wont. (PS:We really are the worst parents EVER in the history of parenting.Fact.)
All of these things add up to….minimal sleep. Like zombie territory levels of sleep.
And yet. In spite of it all….I have once again been reminded me of the stunning truth that…
wait for iiiiiit
Life is seriously SO MUCH BETTER when one gets up (voluntarily) at an unearthly hour. (Disclaimer: It’s not better at ALL when you are planning to sleep in ‘til 10 and a child vs.vomit situation crops up or some random drunkard rings your bell at 6am or your neighbour has a parrot…then life is much, much worse. ). I’m talking about doing it with intention.
Disclosure: I have been getting up to do personal training (it’s not as if I’m suddenly disciplined enough to just hop up after 2 hours of broken sleep ‘cos I decided I would. As if.)

{The school run, I realized that although Finny can walk alone to school, my days of him letting me kiss him goodbye outside his school (and even say a quick prayer today since we forgot at the house) are dangerously numbered. I want to soak them up while I can…}
But truly, it’s phenomenal the amount of stuff I’m getting done in the time I used to be sleeping. Like an entire day’s worth. Which means the rest of the day is available to do yet more stuff. I can DO ALL THE STUFF. Amazing.
But really, when I took stock of what I accomplished before 8am the last few days I began to feel quite sick about how much stuff I could have accomplished over the course of all these years that I have been burning daylight! I could have a few PhD’s under my belt….I could have learned how to whittle, or how to do a french braid that doesn’t come loose within 3 hours. I mean, really. The possibilities. Squandered. Lost forever.

{Pretty much anything Ella does, Finny finds hilariously charming. Here they are making muffins together. BEFORE SCHOOL! The muffins were super healthy ones which I then intentionally made slightly less healthy… (long story, I will tell it later). }
Last night I did that old time management analogy/visual aid for Family Home Evening with the balls and the rice in the bowl.
{If you aren’t a Mormon and haven’t seen this done 45,000 times since you were 5…this is how it goes: If you put the rice in the bowl first, the balls can’t all fit in the bowl. if you put the balls in first, the rice can fill in the gaps and everything fits rather nicely. The idea is that the balls represent the really important things, and the rice is the fluff and the fun}

{Early morning reading. She crowned him.}
It’s a very simple concept and it’s entirely true. When you get the important stuff out of the way first, your day just seems to open up…really obligingly. One would think that I could have figured out how make it happen this way in all the extra hours I have awake at night but nope…night hours just don’t have that magically efficient quality somehow.
Big bonus: Now I get to spend more time with my kids and start the day with them on a far less frantic and bleary/unconscious note. For that alone….100% worth it. The time is ticking until those kids leave me. I feel it acutely suddenly. The tick-tock , tick-tock and hourly chimes of their childhoods passing are clanging in my head…(it’s pretty obnoxious and rude).
I don’t want to waste any more time…I can sleep when they are gone. Raising their own kids and never sleeping-(haha…is it wrong that this thought made me smile a small yet evil smile?) '
No but really, I do need to figure out a way to sleep at night. Sleep is important. So I will be working on that aspect…
.
{Going for a run on the glorious pre-noon trail. Running before noon is far more preferable to running at noon. Just so you know.}
Another thing I’m realizing is if I start the day with the 3 things that I know are most important for my health (physical, emotional and spiritual) namely: exercise, prayer/meditation and scripture study, I have way more energy, patience and motivation for everything and one else.
Look, I recognize that I’m not exactly an expert on this lifestyle yet and probably don’t have the right to be touting the benefits with evangelical zeal yet… but I’m quickly becoming a convert.
Getting up early. It’s a good thing. Must. Keep. That. Up. (hold me to it friends).
Now: If anyone has any idea on how to go to bed early and actually SLEEP, that would be super.
Goodnight, sleep tight! (or Good morning/good afternoon/good evening as the case may be...)
Linking to WFMW on We are that family because this works for me!