A Change
I tried. I failed. I am going back to setting my alarm for 5:30. I’m still trundling off to bed around 9:30 with the goal of eight hours of sleep, but I’ll settle for seven or even 6 and a half. But staying in bed until 6:30 is over. I know I’m retired, but 50 years of early rising is a hard habit to break, and I write every morning anyhow, and I like doing it early.
Besides, summer is approaching, and early mornings are cool, and if I want to work outside I can, and I’ll be comfortable. Then, when the heat rises and outside becomes unbearable, I’ll feel perfectly at ease coming into the house, pouring a glass of ice water, and sitting down to read a book or listen to music. As for the latter, I recently upgraded my speakers and amplifier and they sound wonderful, and more improvements are coming.
The other consideration is that I still have life left to live and spending it in bed seems ill advised. It’s not that I feel compelled to be productive every waking second. I just like being up looking around. And that brief period when night turns to day is full of little surprises, and wonderful colors, and sounds. It gives me a positive to glow to watch it happen and these days positive glows are a little hard to come by so why miss the one thing I know that will provide such a glow? Rhetorical question. So, if you’ll excuse me, the sky out my window is turning light, and I want to watch it happen.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale