Tuesday, June 8, 2004
A few weeks ago, Daughter-Only, not normally a morning person by any stretch of the definition, called down from upstairs in a perky, upbeat voice, "Mom! It's 8 o'clock and I've been writing in my journal since 7:15!" Her tone of voice said it all--she was a renewed person--an example to her mother if her mother would only take it.
I have thought about that moment practically every morning since then. Here's a girl who usually communicates in moans and grunts in the mornings--who grimaces so often that I am afraid her face might freeze like that--whose first waking (or nearly waking) words are very often, "Five more minutes?" and on this morning, something, somehow, has pulled or driven her from her bed an hour early and what she has done with that hour has overhauled her entire early morning persona.
Granted, she likely didn't plan on getting out of bed early to write, but the end result was inarguable. What I have been thinking, and not for the first time, is that it would serve me well to get up early and write for forty-five minutes before trying to face the world. Every morning, when my alarm goes off at 6:45 (a full hour and fifteen minutes before I actually HAVE to get up), I tell myself sternly that I should get up NOW, get up and write in my journal, and feel better than I have before noon in years. And then there's this tiny grumbling voice that says, "Five more minutes?"
I have the utmost appreciation for a good punchline. Very cleverly done. I just wish I had a better grasp of the concept of "alarm clocks." What are they for, again? I remember I used to own one before I began teaching.
ReplyDeleteI have a very complicated relationship with alarm clocks--though it has gotten simpler since moving to "second shift" four days a week. The only day I really need to set the alarm is my early day, Sunday, when I work 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
DeletePerhaps it is the pressure of “should” that you are rebelling against.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably on to something with this one, Lynda. :)
DeleteI wish I had that kind of resolve.
ReplyDeleteMe, too--if I could put some of the energy I'm spending nagging and lecturing myself into actually getting stuff, I'd be a wonder to behold. I'm pretty sure.
DeleteI read all of this advice that to find time to write one should rise earlier and do it. I just can't ever seem to believe that. I am so afraid the writing would be all cobwebs and nonsense from a cranky and un-caffeinated brain. Perhaps this wouldn't be so if I didn't stay up extra late every night to get some writing done?
ReplyDeleteAt least you're tacking it on to some portion of the day. For me it's a Catch-22 kind of thing a little bit because I really feel like I could/should be doing more but first thing in the morning is bad because I know my time will be limited, so I'm anticipating the interruption the whole time and if I start late at night, I have a hard time STOPPING myself. I sometimes think I just need to take one whole 24-hour period per week and do NOTHING in it but write. Heh. As if.
DeleteOh I set my alarm clock too .. but that grumbling voice just seems to be a hundred gazillion times louder...
ReplyDeleteThis was written eight years ago, and I hate to say it, but that voice still outshouts my alarm and my common sense days.
DeleteSeriously - - get up early? On purpose? I know it is probably a really good idea, but . . . seriously??!
ReplyDeleteFrom the perspective of the middle of the afternoon, it sometimes seems like a good idea, but from the perspective of tucked into the covers just before daybreak, not so very much. ;)
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