Early to bed, early to rise!

I hate getting up early! If you want me up at 5 a.m., the best way for me to do that is to binge watch a TV series through the night until 5 a.m., than to sleep early and get up at 5 a.m. (which entails putting 3-4 alarms at 15 minute intervals loud enough to get the whole building up)! And I always thought if for 40 years of my life, I could manage being an owl – why would I need to be any other way? This way, served me well as I studied in school through the night, prepared for CAT (entrance exam) after work late into the night, brought up Sam etc. Then, as with most things in my life, Sam thought that mumma needs a new perspective! I’ve realized that parenting is not you bringing up your child in the best possible way but your child “guilting” you into being a role model and making you the best version of yourself 😁

So, come middle school – Sam signed up for early morning swimming lessons.. An innocent enough rationale to optimize his time for homework after school however, the impact I felt was disproportionate! I suddenly had my beliefs turn topsy turvy and in the process picked up things making me “wiser” in the end! Here’s how..

ONE – Habit formation: My day now starts at 5:15 a.m (V gets up 20 minutes earlier than this but he always was an early riser). My role, to pack Sam’s lunch and to support him to get out of the house at 6 a.m. To accomplish this, I’m huffing and puffing in the wee hours of the morning when even the sun is taking a chill-pill. Scared that I’ll never wake up and he’ll miss classes – I have 4 alarms, helper call, and V shout – all in place. But having done this for 2 weeks now, it has become easier to get up! The number of alarms is already down to 2 with minimal snoozes and no changes to V and helper schedule.

TWO – Solidarity: Of course, I can go back to sleep after 6 a.m. once Sam is out of the house. But seeing Sam protest so much while getting up and yet swimming for 2 straight hours & going on with his day after that, it felt bad to go to an inviting bed even if I had no work & no one to trouble me with free time before work! So, out of solidarity to him (as his strict coach is extracting his last ounce of energy), I don’t sleep.. I tried, but I constantly visualized Sam’s sleepy face, his protests while getting up, and his tired legs as he slept at night, and I just couldn’t..

THREE – Productivity improvement: And now that I’ve decided not to sleep, staring at the ceiling was not an option. So, I made a plan. Roughly, with 3 hours in the morning – I used them to set a gym routine, bring efficiency in the kitchen by creating pre-planned groceries and food schedule OR cleaning/setting up wardrobes/shelves/library. Feeling domesticated enough, I’ve even ventured out by planning travels, booking tickets/hotels, clearing work stuff earlier, cycling/ running/blogging etc. And imagine all of this was accomplished in just 2 weeks (~30 hours that this early waking got into my life). I’m genuinely scared for the upcoming months as I might run out of things to do with all this efficiency 😆

FOUR – Healthier choices: My assumption with waking up early was that my coffee intake would double and junk snacks intake would increase with longer gaps between waking up, breakfast and lunch. But surprisingly, I’ve gone all mind over matter in this case. All my worries above were nullified with the set schedule for food! In fact, with the week’s menu decided early on – there’s a good diversity in the food we’re eating! Fruits, newer recipes, different cuisines have made way into the menu. Our dinner times have been preponed by an hour or so, therefore, sleep isn’t getting compromised with lights out at an appropriate time (to ensure 7 hours of sleep for us / 9 hours for Sam)!

So, the past 2 weeks have been keeping us on our toes and yet pushing me towards a lifestyle that my parents always wanted me to have.. My mom keeps joking to anyone who can listen, “The habits I couldn’t inculcate in S, my grandson did so easily. And the master stroke was that he even made her feel it was all her idea!” 🙈

Round 1 goes to Sam!