Waking Up is Hard to Do

Yesterday I crossed another day off my self made mission-count-down-calendar that is hanging above my desk in my bedroom.  Seeing that the count was down to 10 days, I realized something really important.  I'm going to have to start waking up at 6:30 every morning in ten days.  This realization was actually crucial because it meant for the next week-ish I can start forcing myself out of bed that early in hopes to start forming the habit and make the transition into my new and upcoming life less painful. By that I mean that the transition stage is going to be painful, not mission life. Don't get me wrong, I'm so excited!  I mean, let's face it.  Waking up before 7:00 a.m. just isn't a talent I was blessed with.  (A lacking gift that I think can be traced back genetically....dad) I guess you can't have it all. Some people just have to work harder at certain things. Like my brother who will have to labor extremely hard to ever sing on pitch (sorry Mike), or our dog who must fight against her appetite for human food with everything she has in order to smell socially acceptable (ew Molly).  I guess what I'm trying to say is: 

I will never be able to wake up before 10:00 am and have a smile on my face unless I practice.  Endlessly. 

Phew. Now that that's off my chest...

But seriously.  I just can't help it if I have a natural affinity for soft, snuggly sheets, maleable mattresses and cozy comforters. And let's not even get started on waking up early in the winter.  Who can resist the warm goodness of sleeping-in when it's frigid outside? Needless to say, I should have started this habit forming process months ago.   Actually, I did try to.  Most week days for the last month I've been setting my alarm. But my slumbering self kept sabotaging my efforts by hitting snooze.  Pesky self... Either way, all of this thought on my inability to be "early to rise" brought me to this morning. Yes. This morning I did something unheard of.  I woke up at 6:00 a.m. Then hit snooze and rolled back asleep. Only to wake up again at 6:22 and drag myself out of bed and into a half-awakened stupor.  I'm pretty sure if you ask my step-mom Amy or brother Micahel, they'll attest that I looked something like this when I came hobbling down the stairs this morning:

How did I do it, you ask? The answer is simple really. I had something to wake up for as motivation.  Somewhere to be.  And boy was that somewhere interesting.  I'll let you have the enjoyment of figuring out where I was yourself from the following clues:

• I sat around a table with a handful of awkward, angsty, members of society
• Several of these society members spent their time coloring pictures with crayons
• One of them spent it eating chips (and occasionally feeding them to the person next to him) and bursting out randomly with obscure, slightly humorous, but very distracting, commentary
• This "meeting", if you will, was led by an older member of society, sweetly and desperately attempting to hold the little attention of these younger people
• At first everyone was pretty much confused why I was there, but seemed otherwise uneffected
• Except for one girl who was irrate because I sat in her seat and the change was apparently too much for her to handle
• The conversation was mostly earnest struggles (of the older one, trying to relay a story to the younger ones), flagrant giggles, thoughtful questions, thoughtless answers, and unnecessarily voiced yawns
• The story was a Biblical story
• Which then became insights on the wonderful gift that bodies are
• Which then became a video on the law of chastity
• Which then became more flagrant giggling
• And ended with a brief but precious moment of a heartfelt message, sincere understanding, and a warm spirit
• It all began with a conglomeration of voices feebly making their way through "Master the Tempest is Raging" (a capella)
• And all ended with a cheerful "have a nice day guys!"

Can you guess where I was?

 

That's right. I went to seminary with my little brother.

 



Go ahead...give yourself a pat on the back if you got it right.



 Once I explained to Mike's seminary teacher, Sister M., that I thought it would be good practice for waking up early for my mission, she was totally game.  I must tell you, going to seminary this morning was like a weird blast from the past: a little bit of tender nostalgia mixed with a lot a bit of frazzled horror/realization that I used to be just like these kids.  (And I don't mean that in an insulting way, just that I was a puzzling teenager once and took seminary for granted) All in all it was a very humorous experience (teenagers are hilarious, and genuinely sweet deep, deep down), and a great way to start the day. I'm looking forward to a few more days of seminary before I leave for Provo, and kinda wish I had started doing this earlier.  Funny what you'll put yourself through for self-improvement.  Hopefully by the time I'm back from my mission I'll come out on top of this war against mornings.