...will have nothing but dreams.”

My Great Granddad used to say that.  I don't know whether he was quoting someone else or if it's original to him, but it's a quote I heard at his funeral that made a huge impact on me.  For years I was an early riser.  I never hit the snooze and would get out of bed at times most people would still be in the middle of a dream.  I voluntarily took the early, early shift at work because for one, I didn't mind getting up before dawn and for two, I liked getting out much early than everyone else and would have oodles of time for things I wanted to do.

This was my habit, rise early, accomplish much and then be in bed asleep around 10 each night.  All of that changed after two events occurred.  The first, I married a “snooze button pusher” who worked a different shift than I did.  The second, I became a homemaker and didn't have a boss who would write me up if I wasn't at work on time.  Never was I ever able to sleep through an alarm before, but now, I don't even hear it.  It's like I've been conditioned to sleep in and I hate it.  There was a period of time there where I began to re-establish the habit of rising early but something always seemed to interrupt it and send me back to oversleeping.

I googled an article this morning on Becoming an Early Riser because I truly want to reverse this now, and for good.  I can't vouch for everything in this individual's blog because, admitedly, I've only read two of his posts (the other being Early Riser - part 2).  On this topic, he does have some sound advice to those who wish to transform their sleep patterns.  Mine really needs a makeover and since I'm no longer addicted to caffeine I hope this will be easier to do than I'm anticipating.  He recommends 30 straight days of disciplined waking AND getting out of bed at the same time.  That sounds like a tall order when I have “determined” to change many, many times and something has always derailed me.

The only thing I'm clinging to right now is that I once was an early riser and could be again if I recondition myself.  So, tomorrow morning I will rise at five.  I might need to hide the alarm from Erik since he's on auto pilot and will sleep walk to it, hitting snooze before it even wakes me (bless his heart).  He's been wanting to alter his patterns too and maybe I can help both of us.

Let the experiment begin!