When you wake up, get up.

Advice my Dad has given me.  His Grandmother gave it to him and I will give it to my children. And as much as I didn't want to admit it in the past...it's pretty good advice:

"When you wake up, get up. And when you get up, do something."

He always told this to me growing up, and I always ignored him.  As a teenager, I would wake up, roll back over and go back to sleep.   Or I would get up...and do nothing.   Classic I know.

I spent years of my life rolling over and going back to sleep.  Years of my life, wasting away the morning hours and only enjoying the night. I never understood people who would say: "It's 10:00!  My day is half over!".  What do you mean?  My day had just begun!

I only ever saw the sunrise because I hadn't gone to sleep yet.

Now I am a Mother of three and my children dictate when I get out of bed. I have to say, the advice my parents gave me is ringing true. Dammit.

When I wake up and actually GET UP...my day is always better.  I'm more awake, I have more energy!

And I simply have no choice but to DO SOMETHING when I'm up.  There is always something to do. Change a diaper, make some breakfast, pick something up, empty the dishwasher, do some laundry, put clothes away, clean something, wipe something, sweep something, pack something, DO something.

The truth is, the busier I am, the more energy I have.  The more I do, the more I WANT to do.  Isn't that the truth? Sigh, yes. We all know it is.

Of course, I have my tired days.  The mornings when I just want to finish my coffee. PLEASE LET ME FINISH MY COFFEE.  While it's hot would be nice too.

Before I had children my husband would gently wake me up with a steaming cup of coffee bedside and a kiss on the forehead of my drooling half awake face.  Then he would smile and press a button on his watch. I would hear the "beep" and know he was giving me my requested 30 minutes before we made any sort of plan for the day.  I was grumpy in the morning-that's for sure.  A trait I may or may not (ok I totally did) pass on to a couple of my kids.

Again, these days there are no choices.  I get up because my children need me.  And that's ok.  It's all in the mindset.  I wake up to the noises of my children and my job begins. And it goes until they go to bed at night. But come on-it's a pretty amazing job.  It has its frustrations but I can still stay in my pajamas for at least an hour while I figure out the morning.

Plus-how can you be angry with a child that is SO EXCITED to start their day?  They're that happy to just be AWAKE.  I strive for that!

My life has changed from ignoring my parents and rolling my eyes at their advice to hoping I can follow their advice and then hearing their advice come out of my mouth...aimed at my own children.

Now my parents are my friends and we laugh about how defiant I was and how it's coming full circle. Ha..ha...ha...

Now I await the years when my children roll their eyes at me and cover their heads with their blankets, sleeping in until noon.  I'll let it happen, as my parents let me.  And I know as the years go by, the slow realization that your parents are pretty much always right will come...

So if you want to have more energy, just listen to my Dad...or my Mom. She's pretty insightful too. She's had to put up with my Dad all these years, after all!