As we find ourselves living in our new ‘Lockdown World’ a world where all the days are merging in to one, we don’t HAVE to get up to ‘GO’ to work, who else is finding themselves giving permission for a little later start, a little lie in on more days than just the weekend?
Were you already a prolific snoozer? No, I don’t mean do you grab 40 winks on the sofa like my grandad used to at any given opportunity, although that probably would be nice!
I mean that pesky snooze button on the alarm clock in the morning.
Whether you still go in for the traditional alarm clock or live by the dulcet tones of a smart phone …. You have the ever-dangerous option to press that button and give yourself a good extra 9 minutes in bed right!
Come on, how many of you have ever gone to bed at night and actually set the alarm 9 minutes ( I think that’s the standard snooze time on a smart phone?!) earlier than you need to get up just for the pleasure of pressing the snooze button and not getting up quite yet?
Well what if I suggested, or boldly told you, all that pleasure you think you are getting, that extra boost of energy from your little lie in, your rebellion at that clock telling you have to get up at this ungodly hour …..
What if it’s all one big lie!
What if its actually doing you more harm than good?
You see here’s the thing, and you’ll hear this from me often because well, as a mindset coach this is what I now understand
Our thoughts create our beliefs which create our actions which clearly then create our reality.
Negative thoughts can lead to negative behaviours...
Ok so what’s this got to do with the snooze button and you not wanting to get up in the morning because quite frankly you’re bloody tired and the worlds gone mad, and you’re just trying to get through …. and who wouldn’t rather be in bed!
Well there’s the thing, that one small action is indeed sticking two fingers up to the world but isn’t it also saying
“I don’t want to get up”
“I don’t what to enter into this new day”
“It’s a crappy world right now, and I don’t want to take part in that yet today”
“I don’t want my day to start, I want it to go away”
Look at all those negative words, all those negative thoughts … where in that is the pleasure?
And then …. Well because we didn’t get up when we really probably should, you’re in a rush, there’s so much to do, you feel guilty, its chaos, everything is a challenge and you feel bad again … after all that pleasure of staying in bed?
What if that saying actually has a deeper meaning than any of us realise, what if hitting that snooze button is like you’re resisting life (erm yeh have you seen my life I hear you say!)
Often people who suffer with depression will tell you the worst part of the day is the morning, they wake up with dread, dread of going to work, dealing with people, whatever it is …. Now I don’t want to ever down play the difficulties of suffering with depression so I’m not going to explore this further but,
I truly believe that the first moments of the day set the tone for your day ahead.
Set the tone for your day...
How many times have you said to someone … “oooh did someone get out of bed the wrong side this morning?”
That’s not what we actually mean is it? We are basically saying ooh someone had a bad start.
Simply changing your approach to getting up in the morning is the starting point.
Now at this point I need to fess up
I’m one of those who has been getting up early (5 -5:30am) for years and most days it was brutal, and I did not leap out of bed with a smile on my face because I knew that would mean I had a good day!
In fact, I’ve done all of the above, I’ve set the alarm early so I can snooze, I’ve snoozed, snoozed and snoozed again ….
But this makes sense to me, and when I make a concerted effort to get up with purpose and start my day correctly it’s just better!
Now I am definitely more of a morning person, but how many of you say you aren’t?
How often do you go to bed, look at the clock and think, crikey I’m only going to get ‘X’ hours sleep, I’ll be knackered in the morning! Are you one of those that says I need 8 hours sleep a night, if I don’t get that I’m awful I can’t function!
And then you have children and you can’t remember what 8 hours sleep even is … but you do still function, in fact you get better and better at functioning and you realise perhaps you don’t NEED 8 hours sleep after all!
You see as I said your thoughts become beliefs and become your reality
Mindset is everything! If you tell yourself you NEED 8 hours, you will feel crap if you don’t get it.
If the last thing you tell yourself at night is that you’re going to be tired in the morning …… guess what!
So in true keep it simple Shelley style, here’s my tip
– Pay attention to your inner voice at night before bed, if you want to really try to turn this around actively tell yourself you will feel great tomorrow, the amount of sleep you are about to get is enough to rest and refresh
– Set the alarm for the time you need to get up and get up
– When you wake up, smile, say something positive to yourself or maybe even your partner. Saying nice things makes you and them feel better … now that’s a win win!
I wonder if this is why kids wake up so early no matter what day, what’s happening?
Maybe they are just excited about life and can’t wait for the next day
I think we could learn a lot from kids, don’t you?
Hey there - I'm Shelley!
Straight talking Mindset Coach for women who need and want to escape from the stresses of every day life and put themselves back on the list, who want ‘more’ and simply need a guiding hand to find their way and believe the CAN be, do or have their ‘more’
Come join me in my FREE Facebook group The Successful Ladies Escape Lounge if this sounds like you, where i host and guide with practical tips on setting your mindset for success, whatever that means to you