WAKE UP!
There is this theory about how people who get up early are more successful in life. In fact there are a so many studies about how the most profitable CEO’s wake up before the sun. While I am no CEO I am a firm believer of the wake up early philosophy. When I wake up and get up I am 100% more successful than the days I sleep in a bit. But it goes further than that. When I wake up early I get to take care of myself, I am making myself a priority and I start the day in a calm state.
And more importantly I can not take care of my family if I do not FIRST take care of myself. This is something that I only recently felt the true impact of. I had heard for years…. like on day two of being a mother that I must first take care of myself. But until I was unable to take care of Declan and looked inward to find out why did I see the weight of that idea. I never really believed it.
If you hear nothing else past this… TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.
Three Tips To Wake Up Early
- Turn off the snooze function on your phone. Do it now. Pick up your phone and turn off the snooze function. This has been the biggest impact on successfully being able to wake up earlier. If I have no choice other than to turn of my alarm I am forced to get up. Turning it off is too risky of a game. So there is no snooze. Turn it off now. It has been proven and discussed in many articles
- Have something to look forward to when you wake up early. For me it is meditation (which will be a whole other post). Once you are up and awake set your schedule to include something you love.. maybe an extra cup of coffee, maybe time for journaling, maybe walk to dog or a yoga session.
- Go to bed early. Plain and simple you need rest and sleep to be the best mom you can be. Setting yourself up for success happens the night before when you put yourself to bed. The laundry can be folded tomorrow, those toys can be picked up on the weekend and your phone needs to be put down.
Some of you may say things like… I am tired and need to sleep or when I wake up early I get tired in the afternoon or (my favorite) I am not a morning person. Or I do not have the time or I can not afford to take care of myself.
I CALL BS. LET’S BE HONEST
All of those things are excuses. Plain and simple. Maybe consider going to bed at a decent hour. If you are tired in the afternoon it is likely more to do with your diet than you sleep. And you can TRAIN yourself to be a morning person- but you have to want it. Everything I mentioned is FREE. And you need to make the time… MAKE it. Time will not come to you- you have to find it.
Two months ago as summer lingered on I was ready to feel better and more productive each day. My parenting was in the sh**hole and those “dog days of summer” were sure impacting me; lazy, unmotivated and making a lot of excuses. My son would wake up before me. My husband would be up and I was just sleeping life away. I stayed up too late at night – I get it the sun was up later. It was so easy to make excuse after excuse as to why being up early was not for me. Or why not taking care of myself was a priority.
So I started reading articles on how to train myself to get up earlier. Each article I read spoke to the need to make yourself a priority. I started getting motivated and convinced this was the path for me. So one Sunday night, in mid August, I set my Monday morning alarm for 5:30am. OH WOW.
NO TURNING BACK NOW 
To this day that alarm is still set and each day I get up at 5:30 am. Now, I am human and there have been a few days that I have hot snooze a few times. And on weekends I give myself an extra hour. But I can successfully say that 95% of the time I am up at 5:30.
My days are more productive, I am a better mother and I am grounded. Providing myself the time in the morning after I wake up to set myself up for success has been one of the best changes I made. For myself and for my family. As a mother our days are, often, filled with tasks and demands that are focused on others. Parenting a child with SPD who needs constant attention is DEMANDING but that time I give myself in the morning allows me to ensure everyone is happy and healthy.
The fact is that there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish every single thing on your to-do list and all to frequently self care is the last one to be prioritized. Establishing a routine that includes waking up early can be the small shift you need to begin to focus on self care. The quiet calm still mornings are amazingly grounding and surreal.
I challenge you to join me tomorrow… I will be awake!
With Love,
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1 Comment
Sasha
Amanda, this is a really great post and believe it or not, it has really stayed with me. I’ve been thinking about what you wrote here a lot the past several days because I really like how you framed getting adequate sleep as part of a broader self-care and accountability program. I tend to stay up too late and wasn’t looking at it as part of a greater whole but seeing it this way has really made me think. I am going to challenge myself to get to bed earlier. Can’t wait for your forthcoming post about meditation — would love to wake up early to do this before my chaotic day starts!
October 15, 2018 at 6:47 am