Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is place in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into it's soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Top Tips Tuesday - Rising Early/Making a New Habit

I'm linking up with The Joyful Keeper again (her posts are sooo inspiring) to bring you Top TipsTuesday!

First off I must admit this is something I am working on, Abigail (my youngest) did not sleep through the night for the entire first year of her life and me + no sleep = very very grumpy, miserable Mummy so most of last year I did not get up very early!

But she has started sleeping til 5 or 6am now and I am finding that if I bring her into bed, feed her and go back to sleep for a couple of hours I end up feeling really bad and getting a headache so by getting up I''m actually doing myself a favour!!

I also find that when I get up early I am more productive and I enjoy an hour or so to myself (well with baby lol) as no one else gets up much before 7am!

So how exactly do I manage it? The biggest thing I've found is GO TO BED AT NIGHT! Once the children are in bed if I get on the computer I can easily find the hours slipping away and before I know it the clock is striking midnight! So I have to be really disciplined - I do like to spend a little bit of time with my hubby (who is more of a night owl) but then by 11pm at the latest (I try to make it more like 10 - 10:30) I like to be in bed!

The other thing I've found, especially now that I'm pregnant is that I need to carve out a bit of time in the afternoon for a rest! I'm still working on training children to do do quiet time but I know I need some time to just sit on the sofa and relax after dinner.

Another important discovery I've made is LIMIT CAFFEINE - I find that if I don't drink any tea or coffee in the afternoon I actually have MORE energy at teatime and I go to sleep easier!

Apparantly it takes 21 days to form a new habit I read recently so don't give up! And remember there may be seasons in your life where early mornings are just not a realistic ambition so relax and adjust and be ready to form the new habit of rising early when it is possible!

1 comment:

Rhoda said...

I find that going to bed late can lose me as much as three hours the next day, some way or another - so I also like to try and get up early. But I also struggle with being disciplined at night! Which reminds me, I need to go to bed :D Thanks for the reminder :)