I have been off and on the bandwagon with the 5 AM Club for a year or so now. The idea that women aspiring to the Proverbs 31 ideal should get up while it is still dark is a tough one, but one that always bears fruit in my life. With pregnancy, sleep=feeling better, so I’ve modified my goals for 2009 and agreed with my former roommate to call each other at 6 AM Monday-Friday for accountability that we are indeed up and starting our days. We figured we’ve seen each other at our grouchiest first thing in the morning, so neither of us is offended if the other sounds really woozy on the phone. =) It’s kindof unfair to M, since she lives in Eastern Time and just knows that we’ll be talking an hour after she’s supposed to get up, but I do try to call her at 5 my time if I ever happen to wake up early. Anyway, this great accountability has sortof broken down in the past few weeks…I was at my mom’s for a week and tried to sleep in as much as possible when someone else was getting Tommy up and doing all the cooking and cleaning, we’ve been sick, and then the darned time change threw everything off this weekend. We sheepishly admitted to each other Monday afternoon that our alarms had gone off at 6 that morning but that both of us had immediately rolled over and gone back to sleep. Well, we both got up at 6 today, and though it’s just after 7, I’ve already read my Bible, prayed, done my physical therapy stretches and exercises, attended to laundry, emailed a student’s parents, and am blogging before jumping in the shower. Tommy is still asleep, and I’ll hopefully have been productive enough by the time he wakes up that I won’t feel distracted from just playing with him for a while this morning. I have a long list of things to do today, but a lot of them can be accomplished by breakfast time if I am diligent!
This post has two purposes–to encourage fellow moms who might have been toying with getting up earlier that it really is worth it (I’m so much more productive for an extra hour in the morning than after 10 at night) and to ask for some additional accountability. If I tell everyone what I’m doing, I’ll feel guiltier if I roll over tomorrow morning and go back to sleep.=) So if it occurs to you, please ask me how I’m doing with the 6 AM thing. (NB–once the baby comes, I’ll be retiring from the club until we’re all sleeping through the night again!)
In addition to the productivity benefits, I always forget how much I ENJOY being up early and having time to get stuff done before I leave for work. I hate being rushed in the morning.
I will have to find a new partner after the beginning of May, but hopefully my new roommate at that point 🙂 will help me.