Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Oh, Maybe Because Waking Up 4:45 am is ABSURD.

Last night I had a dream that I was able to turn my alarm clock off by only using my mental powers.

This would be a little less ironic if I had not, in fact, failed to turn my alarm clock ON last night in the first place. I woke up this morning and reached for my glasses to look at the clock, expecting to see that my alarm was about to go off any minute.

5:48, the blue lights blinked back at me. An HOUR late?!?

I grabbed my cell phone to be sure I wasn't seeing things. 5:48, the screen confirmed, sending a blue glow through the room. I cursed, grabbed the phone, and stumbled into the bathroom. As I furiously tried to multi-task brushing my teeth and putting mascara on, my husband called from the next room... "what happened?"

"I forgot to turn my alarm clock on!" I yelled, as I ran through the house, grabbing coffee mug, dog leash, and my laptop.

"AGAIN?" he asked, in disbelief.

Again.

This is, in fact, the 3rd consecutive Tuesday morning, I have either not set my alarm or set it for PM instead of AM. 3 weeks in a row!

I am totally a morning person. There is no time of day I like better then 5 am - 7 am. So you would think, of all people, I would have no problem setting and using an alarm clock to get up. Yet here I am, 3rd Tuesday in a row, sporting unwashed hair and pretending the milk in my coffee is going to substitute for breakfast.

A year ago, when I was asked if I would teach a class at 6:30 am every Tuesday, I readily agreed. At the time, I was just finishing up training for the Baltimore half marathon, and I had been running every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 5 am. If I can run at that hour, I can teach at that hour, right? And in theory, if I started working around 6, I could stop working much earlier in the day, too, right?

Why do theories so rarely stick when thrown against the wall of real life?

The Tuesday class was such a success, capturing a number of full-time-workers who had never been able to do the daytime classes we previously offered, that in June we added a Thursday 6:30 am class.

Yay?

I didn't realize how much I love my mornings... for me. I miss running during that time, tremendously. I transitioned over to running Monday & Wednesday mornings, which was formerly my early morning office hours where I did lots of planning, writing and development. (Quadrant II.... important and non urgent.) I miss my a.m. writing sessions, tremendously.

When I stop and pay attention, I realize I don't really want to teach anymore at 6:30, and I think I've been, in a way, subconsciously setting myself up to do just that. I want to run, and I want to have my planning periods back on M&W. ::::insert me stomping my foot and sticking my lower lip out as far as it goes::: I know I sound whiny, and I am feeling that way, a little bit. I'm committed to Tuesday group til Feb 2010, and Thursday group til October 2010, and truthfully, I'm okay with that because I just adore the people in these groups. But will I do it again when these groups finish? N.o.p.e.

I am lucky that I have the flexibility to set my one-on-one appointments for whatever time I want - be at 10 in the morning or 4 in the afternoon. I can also read, write, and develop classes any time day or night. So in that sense, I do have a great deal of leeway with how I spend my day and have been successful if working out a schedule that works for me. But from this, I have learned a valuable lesson.

Set the alarm.

Okay two lessons. Know thy self. And thy self's most functional hours of day. In the future, early mornings will stay on my agenda... but the only commitment I'll make will involve sneakers or a keyboard.


(And for the record, I have been on time for my classes, but have sacrificed a few things along the way including exercising my dog, personal hygiene and breakfast. All rather important.)

Sure, feel free to skip my walk.
Just know you'll pay for it later when I give you THESE eyes when you get home.

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