I’ve written previously about the importance of getting a good night’s rest. And, I’ve also shared my struggles in getting to bed earlier.
This is still a struggle for me. I find that it is rare when I can be in bed and totally wound down before 10:30 PM. There are multiple reasons for this, of course. First, from the time I get home until my kids are in bed, I don’t do any work. It is family time, and since we have so little of it during the week, we take the time to eat, to get ready for bed, to read books, to play, etc. This is important to me, and something I won’t give up.
But, work is incredibly important to me too, so what often happens is I tend to put an hour or so of work in after my girls are in bed, and by the time that is done, it is nine or nine-thirty. I tend to like to take some time to unwind, and that means that I am up reading, playing with my phone, doing a crossword puzzle, playing a video game, etc.
And by that point, it is 10:30. Which, at least for me, when I wake up around 5:30 AM, is a little less sleep than I would like to get.
But this weekend, our kids played really well together, and allowed us to sleep until about 8:00. That meant this weekend my wife and I felt incredibly well-rested, and that meant we were in a much better mood in the morning.
So, what did I learn? One piece is that I don’t necessarily need to push so hard to get to bed earlier. Instead, it might be allowing myself to sleep a little later (when our kids agree to let us do so). And, I also learned, again, how important rest is. When we’re well-rested each morning, we become much more capable of leading and learning in the way we know is so important.