Day 18: Our Fortress is Stress Free: An Early Start

Welcome to my 31 Days to Create Purpose in your home!  During the month of October, I am posting every day about creating purpose in your home and joining all of these bloggers who are also posting for 31 days on a topic of their choice.  I would love for you to follow me, and check out all of the other posts in the series and the introduction to it here.

Credit

You may, or may not like what I'm about to say, but it is a very important step.  I will fully admit to being challenged in this area (although I am working on it), but I will say that when I do this, my day goes way smoother that when I don't, so here it goes, and please don't throw the coffee at me for saying it.

THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM

(pauses)

(dodges coffee and ignores the eye rolls and glares)

I know, you have heard it a million billion times.  I am going to say it again, and explain why.  When you get up early, you can make a plan and get things done before the distractions of the day start.  While I am a morning person by nature (as all my friends, college roomies can attest to), having to get up in the middle of the night for a baby kind of makes getting out of bed in the morning challenging, but it is still worth it.  Getting up early does a few things for you.

1. Stress free mornings

Have you ever overslept and had to race around trying to get out of the house on time?  While it is quite the adrenaline boost, it sets your days off on the wrong foot.  Imagine if you reversed that, got up early and had time to actually have a morning and do a few things before your kids start demanding your full attention.

2. Me time

I don't know how things work in your home, but in mine the only time I have to myself is when no one is awake.  Sure, I get to blog at night after the kids go to bed, but I still interact with my hubby, and as much as I love my blog, it isn't really what I would consider "me time".  I need time to do things that recharge my batteries, things that take care of me.  Starting each day with a little bit of this, makes it so much better.

3. Starting off on the right foot

It gives you a great chance to look at the day ahead with fresh eyes and make a plan.  How much happier would your kids (and hubby) be, if they got a hot breakfast because you had extra time?  What would happen if you came up with a way to get everyone out of the house early each morning?  It starts with you getting up early enough to make a plan and get moving before everyone else is up.

Early isn't easy, but it does make your days less stressful, and can help your families in ways you thought were beyond help.  Try it for a week, I dare you!

Cheers!

Ashley

PS If you do try it, I'd love to hear how it went!