Focus on the Win

I appropriated this image
from a website called LunaMetrics.

My day started with changing a dirty diaper. But it wasn’t a blowout (I didn’t need to peel my kid out of disgusting clothes and do an entire load of laundry just to clean up the mess), so I call that a win.

I also didn’t step on a zillion toys when I went into my daughters’ bedroom this morning. (Maybe just a few, but at least it wasn’t every toy they own, right?) Victory!

And I got to sleep in a little bit today. WOOO!

Sleeping in is relative. It’s got a lot of factors that go into whether it can be enjoyed. Both the time you went to bed and the moment you have to be somewhere to do something important have to be taken into consideration. Whether you have chores to do around the house needs to be weighed. And if you’ve got kids, it’s hard to keep up the charade of still sleeping when they’re standing right next to your head and whining for breakfast.

You can’t properly enjoy lazing around in your bed hitting the snooze button if you’ve got stuff to do. And if you set that alarm before falling into bed at 1 AM after work, getting up at 9 does not count. You’re not going to be thinking about how nice it is to wake up at 9 until it’s 11. “Ahh, sleeping in feels so nice, what is it, 9 AM? 11?! ... Oh well, at least I got some rest.”

If you get up at 7 after going to bed at 10 the night before because you have to be up be at a late meeting, you’re not going to be thinking about how 7 AM is such a luxurious hour compared to your normal 5:30/6 AM rising time; instead you’ll be thinking that you could still be in bed if you didn’t have to drag your butt out to go to work.

And it doesn’t really matter what time you went to bed the night before or what time you got up if you have to go shopping, clean the kitchen, do the laundry, vacuum the kids’ playroom, make all the beds, do the dishes, get dinner (and lunch and breakfast) ready, dust, and prevent all of these things from becoming messes again while you’re doing everything... (I kind of lost my train of thought... oh yeah) you couldn’t possibly enjoy sleeping in. You’re going to be laying there, feeling guilty for not getting up as early as possible to get to doing everything that needs doing.

The criteria for sleeping in gets very technical, but whenever I can get in on a technicality, I’m going to call that mission accomplished.

Don’t complain about your kids. Give yourself a high five. Some people struggle for years with fertility issues or adoption complications. Having kids might be trying on your nerves sometimes, but it’s something that many people wish they could grumble about. Congratulate yourself.

Don’t complain that your house is a mess. There are those out there who treasure their few possessions, because it is all they have. Whining about emptying the dishwasher is only something you can do if you have dishes. Feel blessed.

Don’t complain that you’re Day Six into Nineteen Days Straight of no days off from work. You have a job. And the best part about that nineteen days of work is Day Twenty. Because that day, you’ll be able to sleep in.

And it’s always better to focus on the win.