30-Day Challenge: Crack of Dawn Edition

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a morning person. Never have been. Never planned to become one. I’m a night owl. Always have been. Thought I always would be.

Then I had a baby, and life changed drastically. I’ve discovered that I just don’t have enough hours in the day to accomplish everything on my to do list. For the past several months, I’ve been staying up for four or five hours after Micah and Dennis go to bed, working, catching up on facebook, reading blogs, and trying to write. When I lay Micah down in the crib, I head straight to the office and get to work.

But I’m finding that arranging my days this way is draining me of life and energy.

I spend all day every day waiting for Micah to take a nap or go to sleep so I can get something done. Instead of spending some much-needed quality time with my husband after Micah goes to bed, I hole up in the office and work feverishly on stationery orders. After a months-long writing hiatus, I’ve lined up several new writing contracts and projects, but I haven’t had time to really work on any of them. I keep thinking that I’ll write after everyone else goes to bed, but that never really happens, because when I open up Word and try to write, I find that I’m too exhausted to actually pen a single word.

In summary, I don’t get to enjoy time with my family, I don’t write, and I’m too tired at the end of the day to really be productive.

Last week, I wrote an article about making the most important relationships in your life a priority for myMISSIONfulfilled. As I wrote, I couldn’t help but feel a bit hypocritical. Here I was writing about making time with God and family a priority, and I’m not entirely successful about doing it in my own life. Sure, I sit down with my journal and Bible most days, but I don’t do it until I’ve put Micah down for her morning nap, which means that I’m awake for nearly three hours before I even think about speaking with God. I sometimes push work responsibilities aside and spend evenings with my family on the front porch, but that happens far less often than it should.

Something has to give.

Which is why I’ve decided to start going to bed earlier and getting up before Micah. My custom has been to fall into bed around 1 a.m. and get up with Micah between 8 and 9 in the morning. I want to shift the schedule, going to bed with Dennis between 9 and 10 at night and waking up at 6 every morning. That gives me at least two hours to spend some quiet time alone with God and write without fear of interruption. I’ll be able to claim Micah’s nap times as work time, since I’ve already read my Bible and maybe even {wonder of wonders} taken a shower. Since I will be working while Micah is napping, I’ll be able to actually focus on making memories with her when she’s awake instead of letting her play alone at my feet while I scramble to get things accomplished. I’m pretty sure that life will improve drastically if I just get up and get going in the mornings.

Novel idea, I know.

It’s one thing to say that I should get up earlier, but it’s another thing to actually do it. That’s why I’m writing about it. It’s your job to hold me to my word. Today marks the beginning of a new month, so it seemed to be an appropriate time to begin the challenge. This morning, I woke up at 9, but tomorrow I will rise at 6 a.m. Promise. You have my word.

I once heard that it takes 21 days to establish a habit. I’m giving myself 30 days to make this life change. I will rise at 6 a.m. for six days a week. On Saturdays, as a treat for getting up early throughout the week, I’ll sleep in with my family. And I’ll write about my progress once a week.

How does that sound? Seems like a good idea to me. Anyone want to take the challenge with me? Maybe it will be easier if we do it together.

One can hope, right?

Until next time, grace and peace.

{image credit here}