November 5, 2014 by Amy

A new routine

I didn't hit snooze today. When the alarm went off at six, I slid my finger across the iPhone to stop it and then…I got up. This, my friends, is way more impressive than it sounds.

For the past several years – at least since I started using the iPhone as my alarm clock – I have not been only guilty of being a snoozer. It got to be way more complicated than that.

The night before, I would set two alarms on my phone. One was at 6, the other at 6:15 a.m. At first, I'd turn off the 6 alarm, then doze until the 6:15 went off. Then I might get up. After awhile, though, I started hitting snooze on the 6, which would silence it until 6:09. At 6:09, I'd hit snooze again. Then the 6:15 would go off, and I'd snooze that. Three minutes later, the twice-snoozed 6 would ring again, and six minutes after that the 6:15 came back around. Which means my alarm(s) would go off on this schedule:

6:00

6:09

6:15

6:18

6:24

6:27

This is not including M's alarms, which also went off with annoying regularity, sometimes in conjunction with mine and sometimes a minute or two off.

Just before 6:30, Zoe comes in and crashes our bed, snuggling until her own alarm goes off at 6:30. At this point, we all get up.

As ridiculous as this sounds, this has been our routine for at least a year now. Looking at that schedule, it's apparent that my dueling alarms and snoozefests weren't really giving me any adequate extra rest.

Yesterday I read an article about ten things you should do to start your day. They include things like making the bed, stretching, not checking your cell phone, etc. And of course, it instructed readers to avoid hitting the snooze button. That one stung. Snooze is my friend! I can't give it up!

Then I thought that maybe I COULD give it up, and maybe it really wouldn't be that hard. I gave myself an incentive: coffee. We rarely make coffee at home. We go in and out of the habit, but normally we are simply too rushed to make and enjoy a pot of coffee. It sounds so lovely, though. So I proposed, to myself, that in lieu of hitting snooze I'd get up and make/drink a pot of coffee. And write a bit. Those damn morning pages that "The Artist's Way" book recommended to me months ago. (I refuse to hand write them, though. Can't do it. So I'm compromising. I'm typing them, but I'm typing them on my iPad, not my computer.)

I deleted the 6:15 alarm from my phone last night, and resolved to get up at 6. And when the alarm went off, I got up.

My morning plans didn't quite turn out as expected, but close. When I came out to make the coffee I stepped in water. One of the cats has gotten on this kick of upturning his water bowl every night, splashing water all around the food area and, this morning, right in front of the coffee maker. I got that cleaned up, and started the coffee. In the process of filling the carafe, I noticed some dishes in the sink that were left from last night, and a soaking brownie pan. Dishes were loaded into the washer, and brownie pan was cleaned, dried and put away. Then I realized that I didn't quite know where the thermos was, and I had promised to thermos some of the coffee for M to take to work. He can't carry an open container with the crutches, so he needs a thermos. This will also help once he gets to his office, as he will be able to enjoy coffee throughout the morning (he can't fill his normal mug at the coffee machine and get it back to his office on crutches…or he could but make a tremendous mess and probably burn himself in the process). So I went on a search for the thermos, and found it.

By that point the coffee was finished and I made myself a cup (yummy caramel flavored creamer!) and sat down to write.

Holy hell, this is has been fantastic. I will definitely be doing this again.

Zoe's alarm just went off, which is my signal to hop in the shower and start my day. GOOD morning!