It’s Day #8 of the Get Up Early Challenge and I re-learned a valuable lesson yesterday… If I over-pack my schedule and try to cram too many to-dos on my list for the day, even getting up early won’t calm the rushing, busy, frantic feeling in my heart.
So here’s the honest truth: we had a rough morning at our house yesterday. Mostly because I struggled with major Bad Attitude… And it was contagious.
I snapped at my kids, was curt with my husband, and just felt stressed about life.
I couldn’t figure out what was up… Until I looked at my to-do list and realized it was because I hadn’t given myself space to breathe in my schedule today.
I had scheduled too many commitments. I had put pressure on myself to do too many things. And I was feeling squeezed and squashed by it all.
Instead of continuing on the Stress Spiral downward, I stopped and took a hard look at my to do list. I crossed some of the non-important things off of it, rescheduled an appointment, and made a much more simplified game plan for the afternoon.
Then, I apologized to my husband for my attitude, kissed him for 15 seconds (it’s hard to kiss your man passionately and be mad at him at the same time –try it! ;)), asked God for love and calmness and patience, turned on some worship music, and drank a Green Smoothie.
The rest of the day went so much better! And I’m going into today reminding myself of this: Jesus didn’t call me to a life of busyness. He says, “Come unto me and rest.” He is not impressed by how much I do. He doesn’t need my productivity. He’s already finished the most important work on the Cross.
Today, I’m leaving room in my life for quietness and space for my soul to breathe.
I’ll be hopping on Periscope around 7:30 to 7:45 a.m. to share some Morning Motivation encouragement and to some thoughts and insights from The 5AM Miracle book. I’d love for you to join me or watch the replay (just download the app and search for @MoneySavingMom).
Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.
We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!
P.S. Read more about the Get Up Early Challenge here. Need some help and inspiration to use your mornings well? Download Day 1 of Make Over Your Mornings for free (scroll to the bottom of this page to sign up for it!)
Joana says
I’m struggling with waking up at my goal time of 6am, been hitting snooze til 6:15, and those extra 15 minutes have caused me the same feelings of stress and meanness you felt yesterday. Thanks for reminding me to REST in Jesus! I’m curious about the book in your picture, how is it?
Crystal Paine says
So far, it’s been good. More thoughts coming soon!
Jenn says
For some reason I haven’t been getting the notification that you are on periscope until after 8…hopefully tomorrow it will be earlier, so I can listen as I drive! Can’t watch it at work! 🙂 I have been rather inspired by what you have to say (watching in the evenings) and am looking forward to tomorrow!
Crystal Paine says
Are you on Eastern Time or Central Time? I scoped at 8 a.m. today, but it’s been between 7:30 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. CT the past week. So sorry if the notifications aren’t working right. 🙁
And thank you so much for your kind encouragement!
Jenn says
Eastern time–hopefully it will work tomorrow!
Laura says
Loving your daily scopes on this, Crystal! So, ironically enough, my husband and I committed to going to bed early and waking up early last night. We were in bed at 9pm, and set our alarm for 5am. Wouldn’t you know that our 2 year old thought it’d be fun to wake up at midnight then again at 2am? Needless to say, we didn’t get up at 5, but at least are committed to making it work moving forward. Now, to just pray that our little bubba lets Mama and Daddy sleep like he does most nights. 😉
Julie says
(Hmmmm…. thought I replied earlier. Hope this doesn’t show up twice.) Thanks Crystal for your honesty! Sometimes we have to hit the reset button more than once. 🙂 I was up at 4:00 again with my husband and have written my 500 words, so all is going well. Have a great day, everyone!
Candis Lynn says
Loved this Crystal. Gave me goosebumps reading your thoughts on how Jesus didn’t call you to a life of busyness.
Loving waking up early with you 🙂
Tonya says
With your word for the year being rest I totally recommend Finding Spiritual Whitespace by Bonnie Gray! It’s been a life changer for our family since I read it!
Crystal Paine says
Thank you SO much for recommending that book!
Kristin says
Oh, my, I hate that rushed feeling like you just know there aren’t enough hours in the day. You handled it well by triaging what needed to be done now vs. what could wait. You’re right; that is such an important lesson! Thanks for sharing!
I got up a few minutes early today, because one of our cats decided it was time for me to get up! I was able to get to the office about an hour and a half before anyone else, so I have been using my time wisely, and have been very productive. I think doing this was a wise decision on my part – I need the time at the beginning of the day.
I have a question, though: how do you handle weekends?
Crystal Paine says
I’m giving myself grace to sleep in on weekends, if I need to… I think it’s nice to have 1-2 grace days each week. 🙂
Allison says
Grumpy days can happen even when there seems to be no cause for it. Those are the days I really need to be on my knees and praying. This morning, for example. All around Middle Tennessee, folks are hollering snow, ice, and other wintry weather happenings. Schools are closed today in anticipation. I get up at 5 this morning to see how much snow we actually got and, yep just as I suspected, no snow. We got rain and some sleet. Needless to say I was not in the best mood knowing that I was going to be cooped up in my house with both my kids ( 6 yrs and 11 mos) for seemingly no reason. I already did that yesterday on account of my 6 yr old being snotty with a little fever. I know some moms see it as an opportunity to spend quality time snuggling with their kids, baking cookies, doing crafts, etc. And believe me, I try to see it that way, I really do. But you see, even though I am married (very happily), I live life like a single mother. My husband works 11 hours away in another state. So everything that needs to be tended to at home, bills, kids, appointments, repairs, etc…falls on my shoulders. While I rise to the challenge everyday, and sometimes fail miserably (Praise God for His mercy and grace!), I see my daughter going to school as a way to have time to get things done around the house and run errands. My daughter tends to be on the hyper side and a lot of the time demands my constant attention. This is very exhausting coupled with my 11 month old daughter getting into everything and me trying to clean house, cook, etc…. So yeah, grumpy days can happen LoL. By the way, if today had been a normal get-my-daughter-up-for-school day, I would’ve made my 4:30 goal. But I did make it up at 5 and that’s an accomplishment 🙂
Katie Wagner says
Thank you so much for this post! I do the same thing with over extending my to do list/schedule. I needed to hear this today! So thank you again!
Jen says
I was up at 5:30 for my 11 hour workday!
Sarah@TheOrthodoxMama says
Thanks for sharing, Crystal. I don’t have a lot room for margin today. It’s parent-teacher conference day. That means I am at school until 8:00 tonight. So, I made sure to get up early this morning (made my goal of 5:30!) to spend a little time with the kids, start some laundry, and have some quiet. Now I’m ready for this marathon. 🙂
Renee says
Again, I love your openness, honesty, and humbleness. I’m sure it is hard to write the things that you do for all to see, but when you do, you show us that you are one of us. We all have struggles, we have bad days, and we have good days. I appreciate your blog, and I get excited to read it daily. It is encouraging, informative, and so helpful for me. I’ve been a SAHM for a little over 2 years (I had been a SAHM off an on in the past), and your blog has been an encouragement to me on several aspects, it has helped me cut my grocery bill, find ways to do things on the cheap, read other SAHM blogs from your guest posts, read encouraging words from your readers, etc. I feel like your blog has been such a blessing to me, and I’m thankful that I found out about you when I went to the TTD Convention in Nashville in 2014. I just wish I would have found you before that. Have a good week!!
Crystal Paine says
Thank you so much for your kind encouragement! Your comment really blessed me!