I am the proverbial night owl. I am content to stay up until the wee hours of the morning “doing my own thing” and then leisurely get around to my daily chores sometime mid-morning the next day. However, I’ve been wondering if maybe somewhere in all of this I am missing the worm. And, in fact, if the “worm” is an organized, productive day, then undoubtedly, I slept in past his appearance.
I know that in Proverbs 31, the lady of the house gets up “while it is still dark.”
Now that, my friends, is EARLY!
I’m not sure I can remember the last time I was fully awake during a sunrise.
So, I posed this question on the MOMYS forum:
Do you have to rise early to be effective?
Later, I clarified the word “effective” to mean “organized.” (YES, I know ANOTHER organizationally-challenged post!)
I got a variety of responses that ranged from ABSOLUTELY YES to ABSOLUTELY NO
The reason all of this has been weighing in my mind lately is because summer is half over and the school year is looming large on the horizon and frankly, I AM SCARED! I feel totally unprepared and totally unorganized.
You see, productivity is not my problem…I am very productive-especially during the night hours, just not organized. However, I feel quite often I’m only productive by accident–it was never a planned event! And while school can be accomplished “accidentally” it is usually a good idea to have a bit of structure working into the whole system.
I love the idea of delight-directed learning, but even that takes preparation and the organizational skills to be able to head off on a tangent and not get completely lost!
I was thinking about all of this as I drove to get groceries last week (and returned home at 10pm!). I actually enjoy analyzing myself (saves me a ton on psychiatric bills) One thing I realized during my “session” was that in my head I see staying up late and getting up late as the more “flexible” way to be and all the “fun” people stay up late–Wow! Does that scream regression or what?!
There have been a few attempts in my adult life to get up early. One time I tried exercising to wake up. Well, as soon as I got off the treadmill, I promptly fell asleep in the recliner (found out later people with hypoglycemia SHOULD NOT exercise first thing in the morning!) I’ve also tried reading in my Bible as soon as I wake only to realize 2 hours later that I never made it past a couple of verses!
But, I digress…
I just can’t help but wonder if my disorganization is due to me not getting up early enough or is it due to me just not being organized?
I have met people who envy the way I live (spontaneity, they call it), but I look at them and think, “yes, but look at you–your life is all neat and tidy and you know what to expect next!” I suppose the grass is always greener on the other side…
God doesn’t make mistakes, so this haphazard brain of mine wasn’t put there to be the bane of my existence. But there are aspects of our personalities that sometimes require a bit of discipline.
Since posting to the forum, I have been rising earlier and I am feeling better about how my day is going. I seem to be more prepared to face the challenges of the day. I’ve decided to just go ahead and do some work in the mornings (I shut all the kids’ doors as soon as I’m up), and quite often I have a toddler and baby in tow, but I am really pleasantly surprised at how much I am getting accomplished.
No, I’m not the organized queen I hope to someday be (actually, I would settle for organized scullery maid at this point ), but I am getting there.
Is this a new leaf? I don’t know. But as a safeguard for myself, I ask that everyone refrain from checking the time stamp on my emails or blog entries in order to “catch” me staying up late. If there is something I despise worse than being disorganized, it is being wrong.
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