I briefly described why I started this blog in my last post. I’ll use this blog to explore my history, motivations, and goals more thoroughly, but I am also living a hectic adult life as well. I am married, I have two teenaged daughters, three house pets, and a demanding full time job as a mid-level manager in a corporate office.
This coming week will be nuts at work, plus school and school year activities start for the youngest daughter. And the biggie, the thing that has me in emotional mayhem, is coming up fast this week – my oldest, my first baby, is leaving home for college. It will be a bittersweet day.
I have a lot to work on, but I can’t do it all at once. I have to start with one daily habit. When it comes to taking care of a home, the most common daily habit to start with is probably keeping your dishes washed. Dana White, blogging at “A Slob Comes Clean”, talks about how she has to run her dishwasher every day. Flylady, a housekeeping system I’ve tried and failed to follow a few times, talks about getting your sink shiny every day.
While taking care of my house is an element of my overall goals, it’s not my immediate concern. Instead, I’ve got to start with me. Inside out. My first daily goal/habit/routine, whatever you want to call it, has to be getting to bed on time.
I’ve been a night owl all my life. I’m famous for my late nights. Accordingly, I’m also notorious for my late mornings. I’m fortunate that I’ve always had jobs where I’ve had the latitude to breeze into the office well after 8:00 a.m. or 8:15 or even 8:30, if it was a rough morning. If I make it to work by 8:00 a.m. any morning, it is noticed and commented on by pretty much everyone. “Oh, I must be late today, since Quirkella is already here!”
I’ve been rolling like that for years. When I was a senior in high school, we had to report to home room at the beginning of the day and I missed it literally every day. I got a pass for it because I was an otherwise pretty good kid: smart, though a bit of an underperformer, charming when I wanted to be, and able to pull off last minute projects with flair. Pretty much the same reason I get a pass for it to this day.
But, since I never, ever, get up early before my family or get to work early before my staff, I never really get that quiet morning time to myself to get some things done or get a jump on the day. I argued, when I was younger, that it was ok because I got that quiet time at the end of the day, after everyone went home or my family went to bed. Um. Yeah, I’m 50 years old now. I’m tired at the end of the day. It’s not working for me the way it once did (if it ever really worked for me that well at all.) But I haven’t changed my habits.
So my daily habit has to be going to bed on time, and its morning cousin, getting up on time. No more snooze button. I propose to establish bedtime at 10:00 p.m. and waketime at 6:00 a.m. I already missed it tonight, since it’s past 10:00 already, but, honestly, if I’m asleep by midnight, it’s still an improvement.
So, Quirkella’s first habit starts properly tomorrow night. Into bed by 10:00 p.m. and out of bed by 6:00 a.m. We’ll start with that and see how being well rested changes things. I hope it will lay the groundwork for me, the way keeping your dishes washed every day lays the groundwork for a more livable home.