I’m trying to wean myself from the snooze button. For years, I almost never snoozed – doing so was usually an early indication of impending illness or being up way too late.
But I fell off the wagon a couple of years ago, and with working at home, it’s gotten ugly. One snooze, two, three, four… suddenly I’m waking up 40 minutes later than planned. I started adjusting my alarm time to account for the inevitable snoozing.
I’ve never been a morning person, but this is ridiculous.
So I decided one of my 2012 resolutions is to stop doing this. Sure, 20 extra minutes of sleep is nice, but I could just set the alarm 20 minutes later and know I’ll get up the first time.
Unfortunately, the first week did not go smoothly. Eleven glorious (glorious!) days off work, coupled with the season’s coldest weather, made Tuesday morning kind of brutal. I woke up with the alarm, but laid in my warm, cozy bed, just listening to the radio for 30 minutes, stretching and trying to figure out my next day off. (Memorial Day, unless I take vacation days.) It didn’t help that one of the first things I heard was the newscaster saying the current windchill was -3 degrees. But I didn’t hit the snooze button.
Wednesday took a different turn. When the alarm went off on another very cold morning, I rolled over to turn down the volume, thinking I’d stay in bed until the news ended (about 4 minutes) and then get up. I didn’t know that the cat was curled up against me, as she often does when it’s really cold. I might have kind of squashed her. She didn’t react well, biting my pajama-clad arm as it reached for the alarm. I recoiled my arm, smacking myself in the face nice and hard. A few seconds later, I tasted blood. A bloody nose is really an excellent motivator to get out of bed, however cold. I can’t really blame the cat, though: I wouldn’t react well if something much, much heavier woke me from a dead sleep by crushing me.
Thursday and Friday morning were uneventful: I woke up, turned down the volume, listened to the news while stretching achy muscles, and then got up.
Hopefully, this means I have quickly conquered the snooze button with just a bit of bloodshed.
Which of your resolutions hasn’t gone quite as planned?
Adventures of the Former Elginista 
Which of my resolutions hasn’t gone as planned? Hmmm… I’ve never been one to make resolutions. I like the idea, to start something new, strive for something good, shed bad habits, form new ones. But something about January 1st being the day we all make them seems strange to me. A lot of people create resolutions on the first day of the year, then fail which is natural. But instead of picking themselves up and trying again, they give up and say they will try next year. Why next year? Why postpone joy, happiness, health, wealth or knowledge for another year? Why not start your resolution again tomorrow? Waiting a year for change is too long. Life is too short, make the most of each day.
Beth, that definitely used to be me! But then I realized that the beginning of the year is a good benchmark, as is my late-June birthday, nearly exactly six months in between. So I tend to use the beginning of the year and my birthday as sanity checks to keep me on target. Sure, I don’t necessarily wait for those benchmarks if I want to make a change in between. But I use those points to reflect on what’s going well and what needs to change.
I like that you use both points – every 6 months – as benchmarks. That is a great way to reflect on progress (or lack thereof) and reassess. I do snooze quite a bit and then am frantic trying to get out the door. It just feels so good to snooze, but then it feels so bad to rush. I’m going to have to try to find a balance with that one.