March 7

New idea.

Reading a Fitness Magazine while working out this morning, I happened upon an article about fighting the aging process in cells.  Among the various pieces of research was yet another study on the beneficial effects of sleep.

I don't need research to tell me that sleep is good.

Vital.

Forget aging cells, we're talking major effects on my sanity throughout the day.

Reading this article this morning was apropo as a 12:30 bedtime, 5:30 wakeup and a little girl who now prefers to be up for at least an hour in between those times left me with about 4 hours of sleep last night.  A far cry from the recommended 7 to 8...

I wonder, sometimes, what my life might be like with 7-8 hours of sleep a night.

Only one way to find out...

I can't control little girl's sleep patterns (would that I could!) and I can't sleep in on weekdays... but what I can do, what I can control, is when I go to bed.

New challenge-- for the balance of my 30 days, I will prioritize sleep.  I will aim to be in bed by 10:30 at least 5 days a week.  I will get 7 hours of sleep most nights.  I will wait and watch and see if this changes things for me.  I will hope that at the very least it will help me keep an even keel when Nat and I start our  annual trip down diet lane starting next week.

And in the mean time I think I 'll continue to focus on gratitude. I may need to fit in writing time in the mornings....

But for tonight:

I am grateful for new learning, for books that resonate with my own thinking and validate my passions, for the chance to talk about big ideas with people who agree with me.
I am grateful for quick evening playdates with big little kids eating together and playing together, imagining and giggling and catching and dancing and wishing they could play more.
I am grateful for warm breezy days and spring sunshine and windows flung wide bringing a breath of optimism into the house and into my soul and leaving my children's hair smelling of outside and earth.