I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions as the one time of year we can hit "reset." But I do believe that anytime of the year we pick to dig back in and shave off the walls of our ruts can be beneficial.
Wrapping up February, I am sure many of our resolutions have faded into the dreary overcast with the typical chance of rain. But I must say this year my new habit stacking intentions have worked out. Reading and listening to podcasts have been a huge help.
I recently read a book The 5AM Club. I was in doubt the moment I tapped my phone to place the order. Back when the boys were little, I heard older ladies talk all the time about waking up in the morning to watch the sunrise and read their devotional over a cup of coffee. Nothing felt more repelling than missing an extra hour of sleep to do this. I was far more interested in staying up an extra hour after everyone had gone to bed to unwind. And the few times I did attempt to wake up early and do this, I literally found my head bobbing over my Bible.
The 5AM Club is an excellent read and makes all the points to waking up each morning with intention. It is a great mindset to get up with routines in place that are enjoyable and make the day one to look forward to rather than dragging out of bed after hitting snooze, rushing around to throw on clothes and moisturizer, rushing out the door late the third morning that week with only two more frantic mornings until Saturday.
I did some extra poking around dealing with this subject and found that those extra minutes of semi-sleep may feel good in the moment, but repeatedly hitting the snooze disrupts your sleep cycle. This disruption can actually cause more grogginess throughout the morning. Our sleep cycles rotate around 90 minutes. Snoozing can disrupt this and make it take longer to "clear away the cobwebs."
Having said that, I now am at an age when I can pick and choose when I keep the grands overnight. As crazy as my life continues to be in my 50's, I still have multiple moments throughout my day when I can sit in my breakfast room and read a book, or sit on my patio with a cup of tea. Life continues to be a roller coaster, but I get to step off the ride periodically and call my sons to check on their current cyclone of living.
When you are raising children there seems to be a constant rise and fall of adrenaline. One trips over a toy in the room he was supposed to clean and breaks a finger. The dog has started throwing up. Another came home with a D on his reading test. And in the mix of the chaos dinner burned on the stove. It's chicken nuggets again. Oh yes, bring on that snooze button. Give me 10 more minutes of peace before the world slams wide open again.
As I WROTE, it is a great read and one that I found inspiring, and I have indeed been waking up between 5:00 and 5:30 each morning. My routines change up, but I have developed a love of watching the sunrise in my office window. Where a sunrise once urged a groan from my exhausted being, and I cringed thinking about having only one more hour to get some sleep, I no longer have that issue.
And this is why we grandparents get to save the day. We can let the three-year-old toss and turn all night once in a while for the parents to actually sleep without disruption. We can let them come over and ride bikes on a Sunday afternoon so the exhausted parents can take a nap. And we can wave them off and go read a book in sweet silence. So, young parents keep hitting snooze, and we will save this book for you when you get older. Sweet Dreams.
