When I was younger, I was happy to sleep in on the weekends and in the summer, especially if, as far as I knew, I was going to be home all day. Lately, though, I've been questioning whether or not I have any business doing so, especially if I'm going to make it a priority in my life to accommodite the needs of others.
Take for instance when I lived with my mom first time around. One Sunday morning (at a time when I wasn't going to church very often if at all), my mom was out doing yard work. At one point she had cut her finger. I had to get out of bed to help her wrap a tourniquet around her finger. I was trying to get dressed (since I'm reluctant to perform tasks in my pajamas; don't ask me why), but she made it sound like it was a huge emergency and my help was needed NOW. I had to settle for helping in khakis and sandals combined with my pajama top. We got done what needed done right then and there, but yeah, I was not prepared for that. I could go into more examples, but you'd be looking at a novel.
Currently, I'm at my sister's house where I will likely spend most of my time. Monday through Thursday, my nephew's involved in a day camp, and it's my responsiblility to take him to catch the bus for it and pick him up in the afternoon. However, he's home all day on Friday. Even on Friday, I definitely need to be up by the time he's up. The same holds true for weekends. After all, here's no telling what my nephew may need when he's awake and my sister and her boyfriend are either still asleep or not home. Besides, somebody needs to let the dogs outside to use the yard (especially the younger one of the two). If I'm up and dressed fairly early in the morning (six Monday through Friday; seven on the weekends), I'll be ready for anything, literally.
Besides, even if I'm not needed for anything within my immediate surroundings, there are other things I could be doing in the morning. For instance, I have been making a point of writing to my dad every Saturday. After all, if I'm not willing to take time out of my schedule to keep him up to date on what's going on with me, where's my loyalty to him? The sooner I do that, the sooner it'll be out of the way, and it'll be one less thing to think about. And surely there are household tasks that can be performed that, if I'm careful enough, won't make too much noise such as loading/unloading the dishwasher as needed. But something like vaccuuming is best left alone until everyone is up.
Even if you have nowhere to go to the best of your knowledge, the sooner you are up and dressed, the sooner you can be of use of those who may need you. If you are able to, you may try setting your alarm to six on weekdays or seven on weekends. Once it goes off, turn off the alarm, get up, take your shower (if applicable; and remember, the shorter you can keep the shower, the better), get dressed, and start your day. If no one needs you at the moment, go ahead and take care of the things that pertain only to you but that you may not be able to do later (such as email) and/or any task that could be performed in the home with little or no noise (if it's one that you're authorized to do of course). If you are the first or at least not the last person to be up, go about your business as quietly as possible out of respect for anyone who might still be sleeping so that you don't get yelled at. If for some reason you are told in no uncertain terms not to set you alarm at all (like I have been in the past), or if you have no access to one whatsoever (not even one built into a phone), and you do end up sleeping late as a result, that's okay. Just make an effort to get up the minute you wake up (something I still struggle with), get a shower (if applicable), get dressed, and do what you need to do.
You may have heard the saying "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." I don't know if that's all true, but I do believe that, for the Accommodite, being early to rise every day possible is wiser than say, sleeping until noon (except under pressing circumstances, such as illness). After all, how will you be able to attend to the needs of others when you are asleep?
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