Sunday, March 12, 2006

Mornings!

I was sitting at the table the other morning, drinking my coffee
, trying hard to wake up. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am not a morning person at all. So getting up before 7:00 am is really hard. Some mornings, I think it's going to kill me. (Actually, make that most mornings!) Other mornings, I'm just sure it has.

I don't understand those people who actally enjoy getting up early. I mean, here I am , just trying to wake up, and they're bright-eyed and (horror!) smiling. And they greet you with a disgustingly cheerful "Good morning!"

Yeah. Like I know whether it's good or not. I'm not even awake yet. For all I know, it's really a lousy morning, and they're just lying to me. (That, or they've been completely brain-washed.)

What do I do when greeted with "Good morning!"? Well, I do what we've all been trained to do our whole lives- I smile (I can fake a smile really well), and reply "Good morning!", my voice dripping with false cheerfulness. And then I go on my way, muttering to myself, rubbing my eyes, and drinking my cup of coffee.

We start work at 8:00- because, afterall, why not? We have our meetings are at 8:30- because we can. Thus, we have to get up before 7:00 (that's before sunrise in the winter, people!), or even before 6:00 (Yikes! That's even worse!), just to have time to shower, get dressed, get in the car, and get to work. And that's not even allowing time for breakfast (if you can even eat breakfast at that hour!). Or for the women, time to do hair and makeup.

If you're like me, you (try to) set out your stuff every night for the day before. Then you set the alarm with every intention of getting up on time- and then sleep through it most of the time. So, then you're rushed, and stressed and grumpy before you even get out of the door. As if mornings aren't already bad enough! And you still have the whole day to go!

My question is, why start the day so early? I mean, really. Why do it? Maybe it's because we've been brain-washed. Or maybe it's just a habit we've all gotton into- a bad habit, but a habit none the less. Perhaps we just simply don't know any better.

So, what should we do about it? Well, I think it's time we all rebelled, and fight the system! That's right- refuse to do what we've always done! Let's start work at 10:00, rather than 8:00. And have out meetings at 10:30, intead of 8:30. And let's have breakfast around 1o:30 or 11:00, to allow our stomachs (a much ignored and neglected organ of our body) time to wake up. And let's work until 6:00, and no later.

It will take awhile to change the pattern, but I think it's possible. We just simply have to re-train people. And we may very well end up using a few classic brain-washing tactics.

3 comments:

W.O.W. said...

There's discussion underway to have high schools begin later, say about 9 am. This is because most teenagers require 8 to 10 hours of sleep, and they also tend to want to go to sleep later and wake up later. Going to school early has been cited as a factor in poor school performance.

Minny Driver said...

Man! It's too bad they don't have the same findings (and conclusions) about adults! Then those of us who are in college could start later too!

W.O.W. said...

Yeah, that's true. Although I guess we could always choose start times for our courses that are later in the day (if there are later times available.