Last week, I decided to challenge myself to start waking up earlier from today. I am eventually aiming to be up by 6 a.m., but will be easing into it. The aim this morning was to be up and out of bed by 7 a.m.

Bedtime routine

Beginning with the end in mind, i.e. the desired wake up time, I had to get into bed earlier. The habit has been to work late, then realise I have to do things to prepare for bed e.g. wash the dishes, pack away things etc. Sunday I decided I wasn’t doing any work. After dinner at about 6 p.m., I washed the dishes. Puttered around a bit (that’s language to mean “I don’t remember what I did!”). Then I settled on the couch to watch “When Calls The Heart” on Netflix. I was disciplined and only watched 3 episodes, shutting down my device at 10:24 p.m.

Normally, once I get into bed, I’d read my social media accounts. Sometimes 1.5 hours would pass! That is now a no-no. What to replace that with? Making a journal entry. So that’s what I did.

Sleep time

This didn’t pan out as I had hoped. Having completed the journal entry at 11:10 p.m., I was still awake at midnight ☹️👎🏽. I will need to re-examine what I eat in the evening, to ensure there is no after effects on my sleep.

I also think the air quality in my bedroom is not the best. I always wake up feeling sort of drunk. I also rarely sleep through straight for 7.5 hours.

Maybe I will have to get one of these plants for the bedroom. (NB Note the time and date stamp on this Instagram screenshot, providing evidence that I was up by 7 a.m.)

Besides the sleep quality, my bladder does not cooperate. Even though I emptied it 2 or 3 times while I was preparing for sleep, I still woke up 4.5 hours after I fell asleep. Grrrrr…….

I set the alarm for approximately 90 minutes from when I woke up to go potty, otherwise, I would have slept for another 3 hours.

Awake and out of bed

I may have awakened before the alarm. Lolled around in bed until just after 6:45 a.m. And I nearly rolled over and went back to sleep. But I didn’t. Took up my “georgie bundle” and headed to the couch. Maybe I could get a little snooze, I thought. But that wouldn’t count. What could I replace that with? NB I read that in Kelly’s post yesterday on Habits.

I remembered that when I had to go to an office early, I’d watch the Government’s TV channel. They usually have informative guests on. That helped me to not fall asleep on the couch. I also read some stories on Instagram accounts I follow. On Diary of a Shrinking Mommy I saw this post. Guilty as charged, with my eating! I was not about to betray myself by sleeping.

Bingo! I made a promise to myself and followed through. Let’s see what happens on Day 2. For now, I am on the couch feeling pleased as punch.