Do you find it hard to get up in morning when your alarm goes off? Is this particularly true in the winter? Do you find yourself hitting the snooze button at least once and going back to sleep.

That was my routine for many years. I hated the sound of the alarm. I’d turn the damn thing off right away and then in my brain fog I would contemplate whether or not I should get up at that moment.   Usually, I wouldn’t.

In the last year, I’ve become a bit OCD, I prefer productive, in the morning.  In fact, I’ve become a bit possessive of my morning time.  Yes, I know that it’s just another reason for therapy, but OCD is covered by insurance, so I should be ok.

Now my alarm goes off sometime between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. I make a point of turning it off and (if I have to), I reset it for five minutes later … knowing that I am getting up in five minutes no matter what!  When it goes off again, I hop out of bed, get the newspaper, fire up my computer, make my tea and I’ve got my “me” time (Of course, sometimes, my “me” time is running at 5:30, but that really is OCD!).

Why on g-ds’ great earth am I doing this? Am I insane? (no response required). Maybe. But I’ve got to tell you that this has become my favorite time of the day!  No one calling my name or asking for anything. No one telling me they have no clean clothes or they need me to buy something for them for school TODAY.  No one telling me what’s in the newspaper, that I’m currently reading!  Nothing but peace and quiet and the sound of my boiling tea.

You may have stopped reading by now  – but if not, think of it this way: if you over sleep 30 minutes a day, that’s 180+ hours a year, that’s the equivalent of over one month of 40 hour work weeks! (Wow, looking at that calculation, I can see the OCD tendencies…).

Truthfully, I consider this one of my more productive habits and times of my day. I even think my kids like it because I have time to make fresh french toast or breakfast muffins!

It’s 6 a.m., I’m done with the blog, having coffee, reading the paper and I still have 20 minutes to myself!  Yea!!!  Have a great day!