Waking Up


I hate it.  It used to induce violence, now it causes inner rebellion. Waking up—it’s not my favorite thing to do.

I fight turning off the light to go to sleep most nights.  There’s one more word to find, one more magazine article to consume, one more chapter to read.  Sleep interferes with what’s next.  Once I turn off the light, I’m usually gone before I can roll over.

Waking up doesn’t come easily for me.  I fight it.  Sleep once it has me, doesn’t want to let go.

Usually my morning dreams are happy ones that dissipate with the alarm clock.  I pretty much hate the alarm clock.  It summons me from comfort and warmth to the cold reality of the new day that hours later I will hang onto tenaciously.  Starting the day isn’t high on my list of fun things.

I kind of envy those who wake up without the clock–those who wake up happy and ready to discover what the day holds.  That’s not me.  I have to slowly wake up in the shower.  I wake up a little more as I have breakfast, and even more as I have some coffee.  I love that first sip of coffee and feeling the creases in my brain relax a little.

Photo: JohnNyberg, rgbstock.com

Today I’m participating in Lisa Jo’s/The Gypsy Mama‘s Five Minute Friday. Today’s prompt? “Waking Up.” The instructions? Set the timer for 5 minutes, write and don’t edit. Post. Not too difficult. Go over to her site and see what others have to say about today’s topic, then do your own and link up!


18 responses to “Waking Up”

  1. Visiting from Five Minute Friday!

    I can almost smell the coffee beans in your picture! Yum!! I am much more of a night owl myself. I’d rather say up late at night after the hubby and kids have gone to bed and have my quiet time then. I can’t ever seem to get up in the morning and have the house to myself for very long…it’s like the little ones have radar and know when I’m up even if I’m quiet as a mouse!

  2. Welcome, Jenny! Thanks for stopping by! Hooray for a fellow night owl. There s something quite soothing about being up when the world around you has gone to sleep. Sometimes I find that’s when I’m most productive. And you’re right—most kids have morning radar!

  3. How different we all are! My eyes are drooping at 9pm, and I am lucky if I can keep them open to read until 10. However, my alarm goes off at 4:30am…

    I was reading a blog or listening to a podcast the other day, and the author (my apologies-I can’t remember who it was) talked about mornings, and how he learned to love his alarm clock. He now calls it his opportunity clock, since it starts him going on all the wonderful possibilities the day has to offer. I thought it was an interesting change of perspective.

  4. It’s wonderful that God has made larks and owls—things can get done at all hours. 🙂 My alarm often sounds about 5:30—too early for me. An opportunity clock? I’ll have to ponder that one for a while! Thanks for stopping by, Kim!

  5. I have always been a night owl, though I do love my sleep. I am most definitely not a morning person and must wake up in the shower myself. The worst wake ups though are when I know my alarm is set for 6 and I wake up at like 5:50. I feel like I was robbed of 10 minutes of sleep.

  6. Right there with ya, sister. Grumble grumble. But once I’m up, and after I stop dreaming about returning to my bed, I’m good to go. Nice post.

  7. Trace—when that happens, I think, “Hooray! Ten more minutes!” At that point in the morning I’m even thankful for one more minute. It’s when I think I have the spiritual gift of sleep.

    Jennifer—I think I’m not good to go till I get to the office . . . once in a while on the way there I wonder what would happen if I turned the car around, went home, and crawled back into bed. So far, it’s all still wondering. 🙂

    Jennifer S. – I’m perpetually thankful for whoever decided to roast those beans and then boil them with water!

    Thanks for stopping by, ladies! It was a pleasure to have you here for a few minutes.

  8. I know that I am really exhausted IF I actually sleep until my alarm goes off. It is set for 5:40AM and I am almost always awake by 5:15. In my younger years however, I could sleep till noon. I still love to sleep, no matter the hour of the day!! 🙂

  9. Yes, yes, yes! Nice to meet another “wake up slowly” kinda of person! I’m new to your blog but I enjoyed your post on living abroad and traveling. I’m currently living and teaching in Guatemala.
    All the best,
    Michelle

  10. And yet another reason I love you, Judy!

    Thanks for stopping by, Michelle! I always love when a kindred spirit stops by and comments.

  11. Visiting via 5min Fridays. I am one of those that wakes w/o the alarm clock. But do not envy me. I feel robbed of sleep on the mornings when my husband can hit the snooze and fall back to sleep over and over. I wish I could do that. But once I am up, I am up. That is not always a good thing. And since I am not a coffee drinker what relaxes me is a Diet Coke in the morning. Ha.

  12. I shall not envy you! It would be annoying to be with someone who had the luxury of the snooze. I can imagine . . . Diet Coke? I love it at other times; I’m glad you’ve got a pleasurable thing to look forward to even if it isn’t hitting the snooze button. Thanks for stopping by. I’m loving 5 minute Fridays!

  13. Sorry for all those times I was annoying to you in the morning, my dear night owl. Now I’m married to one. I sometimes feel like falling asleep while I’m singing to one of my kids at 8pm. Like you say, it’s great that each one is different. These days I’m pretty much always tired…
    And even though I’m a morning person, I still need my coffee!!

  14. Oh, Soul! Those times of morning annoyances are long forgiven. I’m sorry for banging around at night when you were trying to sleep. I’ll never forget you and Sarah singing devotions on the way to NT class. It’s a fond memory now, but then I was kind of a curmudgeon. Sorry for that. I start to fall asleep, too, when I’m reading bedtime stories to the nephews, but then I catch a second wind and I’m good to go for hours. Maybe that’s what our 40s are all about—life catching up with us and being overwhelmingly tired. Maybe.

  15. “singing devotions on the way to NT class”??? I don’t remember that… I do remember going to early breakfast with Sarah and both of us sitting on the same side of the table so that we could watch the trains go by…

  16. I kind of missed that early breakfast stuff. Yup. You two definitely sang devotions on the way to NT. I remember it distinctly. It was much too cheery for me for a morning, so I was often late to that class cuz I didn’t want so much cheeriness in my morning trek. I think I missed out.

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