How I start the day makes such a massive difference to me. My day seems to go better if I exercise early in the morning rather than after lunch. Get my breakfast right and my dieting becomes easier. Avoid caffeine first thing and I feel less on edge for the rest of the day.

But there is one morning thing above anything else that has the biggest impact on my day.

How I wake up.

Do I wake up under my own steam or am I suddenly woken by some external factor. The pesky alarm…..

If I wake up naturally, even if that’s after a night of little sleep then I’m usually good to go. The day seems in synch. Even nights without any sleep at all, I find work ok for me. I can do this single parenting gig.

But if the alarm brings me abruptly to life and it’s all so very much different. Today was like that. Not much sleep until after 5am and then I crash out. All too soon the noisy alarm ends the dreams. But it has not brought the real me to life, it’s the zombie version of me. I can barely function, certainly can’t think straight, parenting is seemingly beyond me. That feeling of being completely out of synch stays with me all day. These are the days I really struggle to overcome depression.

All because of how I wake.

Am I alone in this?

75 thoughts on “Wake”

  2. My mother has always been an advocate for naturally waking up without abrupt alarms, which i found hard. I now wake up to a gentle lilting Sun Mantra alarm. Seems like an optimal balance

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  9. This is more than understandable. Finally, you are sleeping soundly and then the alarm goes off. But it also reminds me of the quote: You can either have a “Good morning, God” or a “Good God, morning”

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      2. Drats, look at the time! I’m needing to be up early tomorrow morning and that means I’d have been better going to bed earlier. So now the alarm clock ⏰ is going to be all “Oi, wake up!!” 📢 🎵

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  12. If I have it all ready to go, clothes where I know they should be, pen, pass key… then I wake and jump into action whether it’s due to wakin’ up natural like or the alarm. I do like to get a swift, but not too strong coffee down, even if it’s not a whole cup. As for days with no structure, having to kick my butt for no reason, then I’m often more slumpy (that’s a word right?) and feel all (I’m pulling a blurrrgh face to describe it) and get less done, but we all need down days/duvet days/chocolate and telly days if it’s raining again.

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  14. I’m totally the same way. If I wake up naturally, all is fine. If it’s the alarm or someone knocking on the door or the dog barking, I usually get an instant headache and my energy is just not the same.

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  15. This happens to me as well. I usually wake on my own – my internal alarm clock is set for 6AM and I am up. I don’t think I could sleep in if I tried. But this morning my oldest woke me up as he needed medicine – and I have been draggy and emotional – all day long. Here’s hoping for the right way to wake up for better days!

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  17. You are most definitely not alone. I’m not currently working, lost my job, thanks to the virus. I’m struggling to get back into a routine of waking up, so when I get a new job. I wont have issues getting up. Lots of time lately, I will wake up with my alarm but then I fall back asleep. I need to get some kind of routine going.

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      1. When I was an Assistant Child Care Officer in a Local Authority Children’s Department I attended a series of training sessions run by a very sound psychiatrist who told us that our work was stressful enough so we should never use an alarm clock. I held on to that 🙂

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  21. Pingback: Wake – Steven Halverson

  22. You’re not alone. I think it has much to do with sleep cycles and what stage of sleep you’re in when you awaken. Have you tried sleep cycle app? You’ve reminded me to maybe start using it again 😉

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  23. I understand this completely. People laugh at me when I say that I “want to sleep until I wake up” because, of course, you can only be asleep until you wake up. But I think that you understand exactly what I mean by that. Whether I get 4 hours of sleep or 12, naturally waking up changes how I feel physically and mentally and it makes for a better day.

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