A New Old Routine

It is funny in life how one idea or thought can come at you in so many different ways. Just this weekend three things inspired me to go back to my old routine of getting up early. I don't know how I got out of it, I used to be such a morning person! Well, the kids started sleeping in and I started staying up later and later. The only problem with that is I am not very productive in the evening because I am tired and everyone is asleep.

I read an awesome post on a blog I found called simple mom, here is the link if anyone is interested... http://simplemom.net/the-great-myth/. She wrote about "doing it all" actually by listing what she doesn't do. What I took from it was that once again in life we all have choices and we are not usually a "victim" of the clock or a calendar. I realized that I am given so much time in a day and I literally make choices all day long on how to spend it. Those things that I say I don't have time for are really things that I choose not to make time for and there is a difference!

Then through another site I found a group of women that commit to get up early to spend their daily time in prayer and study of God's word. I used to be so good at that....what happened? Maybe I was lured by the long, dark, cold mornings in Oregon and that heated mattress pad I put on my bed locks me in until 7:00?? I'm not sure, I will have to ponder that one some more.

Then I found this quote (not sure where) from Mark Twain;
"Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." This was an ecouragement to get up and do what you put off the most very first thing in the morning. For me, my frog is definitely exercise!

So, what does all this rambling mean really? Well, I have decided to attempt to return to some of my early morning ways. So far, only 2 days down and I can barely keep my eyes open, but so good. I woke up at 5:15 on Monday...Ok! Ok!! I hit the snooze three times and actually rolled out of bed at 5:30 and exercised! I ate my live frog and actually it felt good. I also showered, got both bathrooms cleaned, my bedroom dusted and a load of laundry almost complete before Connor and Brody even woke up. Day 2 was a little more complicated because I ended up with 2 children in my bed (and the room where the gazelle is) and since it was my birthday too, decided not to exercise! Instead I got up and listened to an awesome sermon that I downloaded from Pastor Don at YCC and enjoyed a morning bible study time!

So, for now the jury is out on if this actually improves the quality of my life or makes me to tired to notice!