Time Shift

I was good about getting up and going all summer long. My main motivation was avoiding the worst of each day's heat while working at the castle; the thought of melting in the afternoon heat was enough to get me up and going at the crack of dawn most days. When the heat left for the year, so did my early morning starts. I've still been getting over there, but my arrival time has been inching later and later, in step with the delayed rising of the sun.

So, when the time shifted an hour later this past Sunday, I decided one of the perks of retirement was getting to ignore the time change if I want to. There's no one but me who cares what time I go to bed and get up these days, so why push myself through the grogginess of a week of getting used to staying up an hour later and sleeping in if I don't have to. So far it's been two whole days, and it's working. Without changing a thing, I've moved my wake time back from eight to seven, and getting a better start to my day. I feel more virtuous because I'm starting earlier!

As I was plastering walls today, I was ruminating on the whole charade. What's so magic about getting up 'earlier'? I still have the same number of hours in each day. I'm not punching a time clock nor is there anyone who particularly cares what time I start work. I'm working the same number of hours; starting at the same relative time I have for the past month. What part of starting at 'eight' instead of 'nine' is better?

All I could figure is that it's one of those rules I've carried over from my younger days. Sleeping in is bad, getting up early is good. It'll be interesting to see how long past the day the kids move out my newfound virtue will last. I'm guessing it won't be long. There will be no one to tell on me if I roll over and watch the sky for a while in the morning instead of hopping out of bed to be productive. I think perhaps I've overdone the whole productivity thing this year anyways.

It'll be interesting to see if I can convince me it's OK to stop doing for a while, and just let myself be. I don't think I'll be able to do nothing for long - I tend to slide down into depression without a to-do list, but I'm looking forward to changing the tenor of the items on the list. 

Perhaps instead of opening the lids on paint cans, I will open the lid of my piano and see if my brain and fingers can figure out how to work together and make some music once again. Instead of putting paint on walls, I will put it on paper and work on watercolors. (My friend, Rose, has a zoom art class she's been taking that I can join, so this one is high on the probability list.)

Instead of shifting the hours I sleep and wake, I will shift the activities I do within the hours. Back to Retirement 2.0 (COVID version) with me. Soon. I'm looking forward to the day...