Warning: This entire post is going to make me sound about eighty years old. I’d also like to say you’re welcome in advance to my parents for all the “I told you so” joy they will be experiencing during this read after countless teenage arguments about going to bed early, giving myself more time in the mornings and probably so much more.

Here we go.

These past two weeks have reminded me how desperately necessary sleep is for me to carry on as a (most of the time) sane, functioning human being. It’s hard not to fall into the trap of thinking, “I don’t have time for sleep!” and blame it for taking me away from people I love and my growing stack of to do lists, which I also kinda love. But the truth is, sleep actually helps me be more productive, think clearly, be nicer…all these good things and more that make my life more stress-free and frankly, me much more fun to be around.

It’s not like I’m even accomplishing that much by staying up until 1 a.m. every night. Half the time I just end up tiredly second-guessing myself about life’s important questions, like should my bookcase be angled a little more to the left…or to the right? (#movingproblems)

So this week, I’m setting some challenging goals for myself.

1. I will be in my room (I have a room!) by 11 p.m. When I’m up piddling the night away, I feel like I’m not sleepy when the truth is I’m exhausted. Chilling out with a book or blogs, lights dimmed, will be a great use of my self-imposed curfew to relax and start listening to my natural body clock, all while getting some long-awaited reading time to boot!

2. I will wake up at 6:45 a.m. – no snoozes! I started June with this goal in mind, but with every passing day (and late night) 6:45 becomes one, two and even three snoozes later. Invariably this leads to oversleeping completely and feeling more tired than I did waking up originally. I’m becoming an increasingly huge fan of starting my mornings slowly, and building in more time for journaling, devotions, running (we’ll see), drinking tea and more is such a great way to not only start, but feel ready for, the day.

I’m excited to get started on these goals that will help me on so many levels – more energy, more relaxation, more time for reading ( = more knowledge and inspiration), more slow starts, more time for self-reflection, more (potential) exercise, more…sleep.