Battle Royale

When Paul left for OCS in the fall I worked very hard to fall into a new routine that allowed me to do all the things I wanted to do (run a half marathon, group bike rides, spend time with friends) while figuring out how to do all of the necessary household things. Now, I know that there tons of single women out there who do amazing jobs finding this balance and kicking butt every day. It's not easy. I totally get that. But it's also not easy to go from living the married life to living a somewhat single life back to being married again. I'm not complaining- I know I have it easy. But it is an adjustment and that doesn't happen overnight.

When Paul left I had no choice but to quickly figure out a plan. He took out the garbage, did all of the laundry and walked the dogs most of the time. None of those things could have been skipped over- I had to figure out how to do his share plus my share and fast. This part was actually pretty easy because I was able to do all of the household stuff (minus walking the dogs- they dictate that) on my own terms. Laundry on Tuesday night- sure, grocery shopping on Friday- perfect.

I actually adjusted to my new routine so well that when Paul came back from OCS I was thrown for a loop. I'm pretty sure I have been caught saying 'well, that's not the way I do it' a couple times. Yikes!

But even that wasn't too bad because we were in the midst of moving, neither one of us were working, and we had so much on our minds that we really didn't care who cooked or who took out the garbage. It was basically a month of chaos and a routine was something in the distant future. At this point, all we cared about was finding a nice, safe place to live and that our household goods arrived in one piece.

Now that we are into our third week in our new apartment (and my third week at my new job) we are starting to get into a routine. Everything is going pretty well. We are almost completely unpacked. We are learning our way around Pensacola. We are both adjusting to our new work schedules. We have been able to make most of our meals at home, we found some nice running trails, we even have a fun weekly tradition of trivia night at Mellow Mushroom.

Everything is great.

Well....everything except this one small thing.

I want to murder my alarm clock.

I can't believe it has made it this far.

I held onto my normal sleep pattern (8pm-4am) for a few weeks even after I stopped working, even while I was in RI/Boston, even during the move but once we hit Pensacola and started living in a hotel I just couldn't do it. I was sleeping until 530-6am which worked just fine because I don't have to be in to work until 8am so I can wake up at 6am every day. No big deal.

But it is a big deal. Ok, maybe not a BIG deal but still. It is the last thing that I haven't been able to get readjusted to. So, on the days when my alarm is going off at 4am telling me it is time to go run I will admit- I have lost that battle more times then I have won. I literally want to rip it out of the wall, throw it out the window, and go back to sleep- because I know I can. I don't actually NEED to get up at 4am. But I WANT to. It's just getting my body and mind to agree on this right now- that's the problem.

I know I'll get there, back into my crazyass 4am routine, because that's what works best for me. That's just the way that my life is now- early morning workouts so I can spend time with Paul at night. That's the life that I want.

But I do recognize that it is sad that I long for the days when 530am was sleeping in. I'm weird, I know.

What helps get you back into a routine? Are you a morning person or a night person?