Setting Out To Do The Unthinkable

SETTING OUT TO DO THE UNTHINKABLE

How many times have you told yourself “I’m just that way?” I’ve done that to myself a lot over the years.  “I’ll never have an organized house,” “I’m shy”, “I just can’t eat hot dogs.”  (OK—THAT is true!  Hot dogs gross me out.)  By telling ourselves these things we are essentially saying “I’m incapable of changing.”  Huh.  That doesn’t sit well with me because if we don’t change we don’t progress.  And I want to be better than I was yesterday.  So with that in mind, I set out three weeks ago to do the unthinkable:  become a morning person.

Yep—I have long proclaimed myself a night owl.  Frankly in my early mothering days it was the only time of day I could actually put together two coherent thoughts let alone get any sort of project done.  After the bedtime ritual of stories and songs and prayers and teeth brushing (who am I kidding—the kids rarely brushed their teeth at night…) I would drag out what ever project I wanted to complete and stay up to the wee hours of the night working in blissful silence.  Mornings arrived with me bleary eyed, grumpy and planning how soon “Blues Clues” would come on so I could squeeze in a 30 minute nap on the couch.  (To this day the theme song of “Blues Clues incites instant yawning on my part—a sort of “Pavlov’s Dogs” response.)

But life is different now and I was finding myself dissatisfied with the way my days were playing out.  I found that things like exercise were getting pushed aside.  The more that exercise got pushed aside the more frustrated I became.  Even worse I woke up feeling behind and went to bed feeling behind.  So I had a crazy thought—what if I got up every morning at 5:00 am and went to the gym?  

When I proposed this to Dave he was dubious.  Mostly because he’s been married to me for 24 years.  You see, he knows that the number of times I have been upright at 5:00 am can be counted on one hand.  However, as a natural morning person himself he was supportive—albeit skeptical.

So, Monday morning came and my alarm went off at the unholy hour of 5:00 am.  Since it was Day 1 I was determined to follow through.  I stumbled to the bathroom, got dressed and headed out the door.  Here’s something you may not know:  it’s DARK at 5:00 am!  What the heck?  Navigating by the stars, I made my way to the gym.

Are you curious what I discovered?  The gym is practically empty!  You don’t have to wait for the equipment you want to use and when you head to the weight benches you don’t have to wade through a bunch of body builder guys half your age.  The music is quieter and best of all—NOBODY shows up in full make up and hair!   By the time I left 80 minutes later I had my exercise and scripture study done and my thoughts gathered about my day ahead.  And not only that but when I returned home I found time to unload my dishwasher, start the laundry, start dinner in the crockpot and process my inbox.  All before 9:00 am!  

But that was just the first day.  The real test remained as to how the next few days would play out.  Well, I’m happy to report that so far, three weeks in, it seems to have stuck.  I’m actually looking forward to my mornings now!  Sure, I have to go to bed a little earlier, and you better not talk to me for the first 20 minutes I’m awake, but overall I’m loving the results.  I no longer feel guilty all day that I didn’t find time to fit my work out in and even better, I am SO much more productive.  There really seems to be something to this idea of arising early.

Now I want to figure out how to apply this concept of change to other areas of my life.  If I really desire a tidy house, shouldn’t I be able to make that happen?  If I want to reinvent a way to help my kids be organized, couldn’t I do that?  If I want to become a motivational speaker and pod cast host, isn’t it possible?  (An idea I’ve been toying with but currently have no idea how to go about.)  The question becomes “what am I willing to give up, or commit to to make those things happen?”  So I predict some more soul searching ahead—most likely while running on a treadmill at 5:30 am tomorrow morning:)