Today it is exactly 6 weeks since I started the early rising experiment! I first wrote about it on 9 June. For me, this particular experiment involves waking up every morning, including weekends, at 5am. This wake up time, at this time of year (winter in the southern hemisphere), has been a bit difficult at times, but I have managed to stick with it, more or less. The trick is to not allow myself “just five more minutes” when the alarm goes off, but to get out of bed immediately.
M usually just sleeps right through, even if I switch a light on and fall over my shoes while I am getting dressed. He has, on occasion, gotten up early too, but I don’t think waking up so early is natural for him. I don’t think the experiment would have worked for me either, if not for the fact that I am definitely a morning person.
My mornings have settled into a nice routine now. I make myself a cup of tea and sit in my study. I might read something online, or I might just sit and think about the day ahead and what I am going to do. Or I write something for this blog. After about an hour or so, I make a second cup of tea and have some breakfast. I listen to the news while putting the finishing touches to whatever I am writing. Have a shower. Wake M. Iron a shirt for work. M wakes up, has his shower, during which I get ready for work. He doesn’t seem to need to have breakfast or take his time in the mornings, like I do. By the time he is out of the shower I am ready. We usually leave for work at around 8am.
When I started the experiment, I was quite conscious of how I would feel during the day. Would I be tired? Would I want a nap? Happily, this has not been the case at all. Apart from the odd occasion where I have fallen asleep in a meeting, I would say that my energy levels are better during the day than they used to be before the experiment. (I used to fall asleep in meetings, pre-experiment, too!) I don’t feel as rushed as I used to, and I am happier because I have more time during the day to do all the things I want to. In particular I have more time to read. And I am also writing more now. I still don’t have enough time to do everything I want to for work, but I don’t think I am going to be able to do much to change that, beyond constantly prioritising.
Now I go to bed between 9 - 10pm. This might seem very early, but thinking about it, pre-experiment I would have been tired by that time of the evening, but would still feel like I had to stay up a bit longer so that I could do more of whatever it was I wanted to do. I would end up going to bed at 11:30 or 12, and be quite tired the next morning. 7am would see me rushing around trying to get ready - remembering the rushing around I used to have to do back then, to get ready for work, makes me feel tired!
So far, this experiment has been successful and very worthwhile, and I will definitely not be quitting it anytime soon!
(I’ve probably written about my experience of the early rising experiment before, so if you have read this post feeling a sense of deja vu or boredom because you have read it all before, I apologise! I didn’t know what to write about today, and just sat here looking at the news and other people’s blogs and thinking about things, including the experiment. This started me thinking about how long it had been since I started, and one thing led to another.)
For some reason I feel a little tired this morning, which is not good because I have to work until 8pm tonight. Have a class to teach between 6 - 8pm, on EndNote. Last week I had the same group of students, and that class was a breeze because it was about databases and searching and I can crap on do that with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back. EndNote is a bit more challenging because I find teaching people how to use software much more involved than talking about databases. Also the students will have definitely have questions. They are doctoral students and good to work with as they are all interested and want to be there.
Still thinking about Suz’s kind comments and future topics to write about. There’s a lot I could write about, without violating any of my vague rules, and Suz has suggested a couple of topics. Just curious, would any of you (my other readers!) be interested in reading about RSS too? And those of you who blog, how do you decide on what to write? Comments welcome 
Categories: work-life-balance, experiment, writing
