The Sleep Promise

Ahh New Years resolutions. Made many. Never really kept one.

I truly believe in all things moderation so when it comes to giving up something I’m all like, well why? A little bit of chocolate/sugar/wine/all of the above won’t hurt a gal!

BUT… I’m really going to try this time, because I’ve realised that I really really REALLY need more sleep. Quality shut eye. I’m talkin 8 big fat hours!

I’m not sure when it happened, maybe it was always there… I just can’t remember much pre kids. I know I’ve never been a morning person, but somehow, post babies I’ve become the biggest night owl. Staying up until midnight on a week night is not un-common for me these days.

Me.. The night owl drinking tea Image source: Pinterest

By the time we get kids to bed, clean up after dinner, do a bit of work or some blog stuff, read, or watch The Bachelor… hello midnight! It doesn’t help that C is up late working on the laptop most nights.

Then before I know it, the alarms go off. Yes, Alarms! The boy version and the girl version. Usually one directly after the other, because let me tell you, there’s no such thing as the pitter patter of small feet. With floorboards it’s more like baby elephants stomping down the hallway at the crack of dawn. And when this happens, I curse myself for going to bed so damn late. And this happens every single morning!

I’m just so tired of waking up tired!

But thank god for holidays… and the opportunity to re-group, re-focus and make a fresh start, especially at New Years.

I’m never more inspired than when I’m on holidays. On holidays I always have these grand thoughts of all the ‘things’ I’m going to do when I get back into the usual routine. These ‘things’ are usually inspired by the holiday destination I’m in. Here’s some real life examples:

• Intending to take Vietnamese cooking classes after purchasing all the necessary cooking utensils on our Vietnam honeymoon (which are still sitting in the back of my kitchen cupboard 7 years later).
• Learning to surf after being inspired by the Aloha way of life in Hawaii.
• Learning to speak Spanish after travelling through South America, vowing to return one day speaking fluently.
• Doing a travel photography course so I can take better holiday photos.

And then there’s the general ‘other things’ holidays inspire, like:

• Reading more books.
• Intending to go to at least 3 yoga classes/gym visits per week.
• Eating more fruit – usually inspired by a daily breakfast buffet.
• And of course, vowing to get more sleep – inspired by the arvo holiday siesta.

But of course, as we all know, that holiday feeling fades fast and those grand ‘things’ are usually forgotten pretty quickly, unless we are reminded at some stage throughout the year.

This year my reminder came when I saw Arianna Huffington speak at a Business chicks breakfast (You can read about that here). Arianna famously fell asleep burning the midnight oil and woke in a pool of her own blood after collapsing from exhaustion. Since seeing her speak, I’ve read her book Thrive and so much of what she talks about really is just common sense. As she says… “Why can’t we learn from her health crisis? Why wait until it happens to us to realise?”

So I figure it’s time. Time to go public with this resolution right here on the blog, because then I’ll be held accountable and only then will I have the motivation to at least give this a real crack.

So with that in mind, my New Years resolution, or my promise to myself as I’d prefer to call it, is to get more zzz’s. The Sleep Promise. I plan to start slow, and go to bed half an hour earlier, then build on that, exactly as Arianna recommends. And I’ll start on the 2nd of Jan {Because who starts a NY Resolution on the 1st of Jan?}

I know if I can just get more sleep, everything else will fall into place. I’ll be less snappy with my2morrows, will have more energy, a better memory and will generally be more productive. Maybe I’ll even be inspired to learn spanish or take up Vietnamese cooking classes or become a morning person and run 10 Km’s every morning!! Haha… Small steps Shannon!

So, as I sit and write this {at 11:21pm on a weeknight}, I shannon, promise to make more of an effort to get me some more zzz’s in 2015.

What’s your 2015 promise to yourself?

Finish this sentnce in the comments below, I’d LOVE to hear!

I …….. promise to………… In 2015.