I decided to give something up for the month of December, don’t worry it’s not blogging although I have considered it a time or two. I thought a lot about what to give up. I considered the basic things like sugar, coffee, chocolate, gluten.. Something that I enjoy but could live without. Then I considered non-physical things like negative thoughts and procrastination but I feel like that’s hard to measure. These are all great things and are not bad options in my opinion. I just feel like I could do something different.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had to think of something to give up. My church does this thing called Lent, which is the period of 40 days before Easter in the Christian calendar. Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. It is meant to replicate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. The thing about Lent is, for example, I gave up coffee one year. At the time, I thought I used coffee for my caffine intake in the morning and it helped wake me up only to realize it was much more than that. I started craving the taste of coffee which I didn’t realize I liked so much. During the period of lent, when you think about what you’re giving up you have to think about it as a temptation. It should be something that when you don’t have it, it makes you pause for a second and reminds you the reason why you’re doing it.

But this isn’t for Lent. Although, I could use it as a preparation for baby Jesus. I do want to make it something that requires me to be more productive and more motivated in life. There’s less than a month left in this year and I want to start next year on the right foot and that means I have to do things now to prepare for a better tomorrow. It always starts with something small too, so I think I have decided what I’m going to give up. Something so minuscule but makes such a difference. I’m giving up my second alarm in the morning.

I used to be so good at waking up on my first alarm to the point where I didn’t even use a second one. I was so motivated to wake up in the morning and now I’m just exhausted all the time. I know I’ve said this a lot before but I love the morning time. It is one of my favorite times of the day. It’s usually so peaceful and comforting waking up in the stillness of the morning and just having a moment to breathe before the world starts waking up. I still feel that way for sure but I’ve felt so tired lately and it’s been harder to get up. I have to be at work to clock in at 6 am. I live an hour away from work so that means I have to leave my house by 5 am.. Sort of. I wake myself up at 4 am so I have an hour to prepare for the day. I actually set my first alarm for 3:50am. Like is ten minutes going to make a difference? To me yes. I actually leave my house at 4:40 or 4:30 if I have to take my daughter by my moms who lives ten minutes the other direction. Why do I leave my house so early? Just in case.. Just in case there’s an accident or detour. You see I don’t know the city I work in too well. I especially couldn’t find my way around it at nighttime so I like to give myself extra time to prepare accordingly. There have been times where those extra 10-20 minutes benefited me.

The crazy thing about this is.. I have 7 alarms in the morning on the days I work. Yes 7.. Which sounds psychotic but I am horrible at time management so the alarms aren’t for waking up but just to remind me ‘hey it’s 4:20 go turn your car on to your windows aren’t frosted’. So I’m giving up my second alarm but does that mean I should also give up the other 5? My fist alarm is at 3:50 which is when I prefer to wake up because those ten minutes make a difference then my next one is 4 which is more or less a cushion alarm. Then 4:10 which I think is another cushion alarm.. Then 4:20 which really is to remind me to turn my car on to heat it up. There more of little reminders than anything.. But I’m giving them up. I’m going to try my hardest to be a normal functioning adult and be productive and ready on time! I felt like this was a good little challenge to add to the flow on Blogmas. Wish me luck!

What is something you would give up for a month? What is something you would never give up? Let me know in the comments!

with love,

c.p