The Power of Snooze

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved sleep. She loved sleep so much that her famous line was, "5 more minutes!" When traveling this sleep loving girl learned how to say the magical phrase in many other languages. It became an ongoing joke with her parents that you needed to be prepared with an extra 10-15 of time in trying to get out the door just for those 5 minutes.

The little girl grew up and decided to row crew in college. Crew, you say, that means waking up at ungodly hours such as 4:30 am. The girl became accustomed to the 4:30 wake up call followed by class and very lovely naps. College graduation commenced and the lovely girl was thrust into the real world. With work a new challenge, sleeping until the last possible moment became a routine. Laziness became norm and exercise was sparse. This little machine became the devil.

The girl realized she was out of shape and joined a triathlon team. At first, practice was after work and on weekends and easily able to attend. As she got more and more involved, practice moved to 6 am in the 'burbs meaning she now woke up at 4:45 am. There were no more 5 minute snooze drills and surprisingly it was easy to wake. The excitement of a great workout helped motivate the lady to be on time!

Magically, the girl decided to kick her life up a notch and try to good for the world. Yes, the girl joined a charity marathon team. Workout times were now up to her and she could again sleep in. And sleep in she did, hitting snooze more often than not. This now meant the morning workouts were pushed back to evening workouts where motivation was hard to find. Life all of a sudden became scheduling workout to workout and felt like suffocation. The girl realized that all she needed to do was wake up earlier and this dilemma would be solved, but how to do it?

Yes folks, I am struggling right now with waking up early. Everyone that got used to seeing my face at 6 am is probably in shock, but it is really hard! I am setting a new goal for myself to make it into the gym 2 days a week at 6:30 am. I am not too thrilled with this new regime, but know it is best for me in the long run. So starting Monday, expect to see me a little agitated and out of it for a few days. In the end, I hope to be back to my lovely cheerful morning self. And any tips of getting back into this routine would be greatly appreciated!