The Early Rising Experiment--Recap of Week One

Photo from http://www.tedsquires.com/

It's been a week since I started rising before my children and all I can say is "WOW!!!" I am so excited about this new discipline in my life and hope to continue to make it a habit. I'll give it another couple weeks of experimentation, but even after plenty of challenges this week, I can already tell that it is a huge blessing to my life and one practice I hope to continue throughout my years when children are in the home, especially during the busy homeschooling years.

The Lord faithfully woke me up before the kids and I somehow managed to sneak out of my room without Justus waking half the time. A couple of mornings he was the one God used to wake me up and I fed him, put him down, and resisted the temptation to crawl back in my warm bed and instead headed out to plan, pray and read. Whenever we seek to draw closer to God it seems our enemy doesn't like it and sure enough, this week, Justus, who had been sleeping really well, had a few nights of continual wakings every hour or so which had me totally exhausted combined with my early rising and later nights. On Saturday, which I have given myself as a "day off" from the early rising and usual schedule, I was so desperate for sleep I fed Justus and then returned to the bedroom to hound my husband to get out of bed whining "Didn't we agree you'd get the kids up just one day a week?" Thankfully he let me sleep in until about 8:30a.m. and I caught up on some sleep and therefore survived the weekend. Adjusting from my night owl schedule to "early bird" schedule is difficult, especially as I have no opportunity for naps, but my body is making the adjustment and I feel absolutely ready for bed now at 10 or 11 which is unbelievable for me since I used to consider that an early bedtime (yes, even while pregnant with my third kid after a day with toddlers.) This 3-kid thing has really thrown my body for a loop! Juggling 3 sure has changed me whereas having 2 didn't in the area of bodily fatigue!

But in spite of the extra grogginess as I adjust to my new schedule and try to kick myself in the rear to go to bed earlier, this early rising thing is the cat's meow! It is amazing how refreshed I feel and ready to tackle the day when I've had time to think, time to pray, time to sit and plan out my day, etc. I feel less overwhelmed and way more productive. I feel more like a human instead of just a slave who is roused out of bed by her masters who are loudly demanding food. I can go potty in silence, have a cup of tea, and refresh my heart and mind before the clamor begins and when it does, I have a much more patient and "I'm ready to be your mommy" type of attitude. Today I even went into the kid's room with a big smile as I heard them stirring and waking up! The old-sleep-in-as-long-as-you-possibly-can-and-pretend-you-don't-hear-the-kids mommy would have never done that!

The extra planning time for my day has helped me to get more accomplished and work smarter. If I start the day with the kids yelping for breakfast, I can so easily forget this or that that needed to get done in the morning and if I try to sit down mid-morning and make my daily to-do list, I'm always interrupted and forget important things on it. Having silence has made such a HUGE difference! I suppose one could make a list the night before, but there is something about a new day and a new project that really gives me a big boost in motivation. By getting up early, I was able to start my yogurt batch earlier, eat breakfast with the children each morning instead of trying to wake up and get dressed while they eat, make a hot breakfast one morning, have a nicely cleaned off table to eat off of (which to me cultivates a haven-like atmosphere so much more than a cluttered table), and have things ready to bless my kids right away and save myself from hearing endless pleas for juice or cereal while I stumble around trying to open my eyes.

Getting up earlier has also helped give me a jump on getting showered and dressed right away and I'm finding time to even curl my bangs again! So, although I am a bit more tired, I think it's totally worth it and encourage those of you out there who want to have a smoother day to try joining me in the next couple of weeks of the experiment! As I mentioned before, this practice may not be the best if you are in a hard season of life that is physically draining.

Mrs. Jo's goals for Week #2 in this experiment:

*Weekends are tough because we often watch a movie together or have some couple time and always seem to go to bed way later than we should. Time to relax, talk and connect as a couple is way more important than "my schedule" but I want to balance them both so I don't feel utterly pooped on the weekends doing this early rising thing. I hope to combat the staying up too late by telling myself that I cannot get on the computer after 10pm and that we need to try to get the kids in bed and start date night right away instead of dinking around and doing chores or surfing the net looking for a good movie to watch for an hour. Planning ahead by choosing a movie the day before and getting the kids off to bed a little more efficiently (not reading to them for a half an hour before bed on date night) would help out in this area.


Next week I'll report on how I'm doing at getting myself to bed earlier. Please share how your first week went if you are participating with me in this experiment! Also, a question for any of my blog readers out there, "What is your biggest obstacle to overcome in order to start rising before your kids?"