Rise and Shine!!

I love summer time. The sun peaks out later in the am and you can have 8:30pm dinners on your back deck. I love afternoon tea and a really good workout before dinner. I love to write in the middle of the afternoon when I feel a nice amount of music and down time can get my creative juices going. I am NOT a morning person.
My husband crashes by 2pm every day and he either works out in the am or not at all. He loves to drive to work with the sun and loves his coffee and planning time before the house is even humming from the AC turning on. He is a morning person; and seems to be more put together because of it.
There is something amazing about being able to get up and use that time wisely. I mean you gain 1/2 a day really! Why is it so hard for me? For those of you who struggle with this concept I am right there with you! It has been a real battle for me lately. I want to be proactive when it comes to this and I know I feel amazing when I wake up to my days before they wake up to me (Kids crying, coffee calling, still in PJs at 10:30). So how do we create this opportunity and actually stick to it? I have tried many times to be up. I have even done the 5:30 jog (for about three months). It was great, it felt amazing when I did it and I even began to crave it. However, for me, keeping it up was legitimately not possible. So where do I find the balance?

Proverbs 19:15
15 A lazy man sleeps soundly—and he goes hungry!

This verse is frightening! It also explains that my soul is going hungry for the time that I am missing out on. People who get up early are statistically more proactive, more energized, more gracious and put together (they had time to brush their hair) they make more money, and are the creators and for-thinkers of the modern world.
Balance is key here. You can not expect yourself to get up at 5am when you don’t go to bed until 1. You also can’t expect yourself to be up that early and to keep it up during seasons of unrest, stress or high work. Perfection is not something those of us who struggle with this can expect to have right away, we can create a game plan to maximize our time and our energies. If you are a more afternoon bloomer than your morning can be your down time or you workout time so that your evenings can be opened up more for family and friends. You might not create you game plan for the day, write a book, and manage to make muffins for your whole neighborhood during that half hr you carved out, but just maybe you can finally go and read that book you still have from Christmas.
To help create for yourself a game plan for getting up earlier I have some questions I have formulated (for myself) that I think would be helpful in creating the reason why you want to be up and what that time is being served for.
– What do you want to gain from the extra hr?
Ideas: Healthier start, exercise every day, quiet before the rush, reading, meditation, time to work on goals, just plain “me” time.
– Why is it not happening now?
Ideas: not going to bed on time, allowing laziness to drive you, trying to get up way to far off from what your use too.
– Am I trying for something to far out of my norm?
I.E.: you use to get up at 8 and now you are trying for 5:30….maybe try for 7 first.
– Am I getting back on the wagon when I do mess up or allowing it to drag me down into old habits?
– What am I going to do today and tomorrow to start doing?
Ideas: Lay out outfit, set alarm, go to bed earlier…
As you contemplate these questions and elaborate on them let me encourage you by saying,

“Only you know what is holding you back from creating the schedule and life your born for. Life is a gift, don’t take one second for granted! Go after it, Get up, and make it happen!!” – Kate