The Work Slowdown Has Begun

I came home the other day to find my wife vacuuming the living room. Six months ago this would not have been a surprise. My wife is a bit of a germ-o-phobe and a little, kinda, slightly obsessive compulsive plus we’re a household with 2 vacuums so it was not entirely unusual to come home and find my wife vacuuming at any hour. She vacuums with such gusto and vigor I often thought she actually enjoyed vacuuming but when I casually mentioned this one day she pointedly informed me how incorrect I was and oh by the way maybe I should start vacuuming and maybe I would enjoy it. At that moment I decided to keep my mouth shut about the amount of vacuuming and the perceived level of enjoyment.

Still I was a bit surprised to find her vacuuming because 6 months ago she purchased yet another vacuum. It’s one of those robo vacs that you can program to vacuum at any time. Since the purchase of robo vac my wife’s vacuuming has declined but the frequency of tripping over robo vac has increased. The spinning whirring disc seems to let nothing get in its way of completing its preassigned work….or so I thought.

I stood there puzzled watching my wife vigorously vacuum the living room wondering where the little robo vac might be acutely aware that it might blindly run into my achilles tendon at anytime causing an injury that might require me to rush to the hospital with the unbelievable story of robo vac sending me to the emergency room.

Finally my wife noticed me standing there and stopped her vigorous vacuuming. I spread my hands wide in a questioning gesture that needed no words.

“It got stuck behind the couch and then was confused so it went back to its dock and now it won’t come out.”

I shook my head in stunned disbelief….it got confused and went back to its dock and won’t come out. Were we dealing with a robot vacuum or a temperamental teenager whose told that the grass needs to be cut before they go to their friends house and in protest they lock themselves in their bedroom refusing nourishment and vowing a hunger strike.

Then I realized what was really happening. Robo vac was much smarter than I had realized. I thought the spinning, whirring disc knew only the finer points of vacuuming, dust prevention and preassigned patterns of our living room but no it had already determined that vacuuming kinda sucks no matter how vigorous and enthusiastic my wife makes it look. Robo vac had already determined a life of vacuuming was unfulfilling even if programmed for that very task.

Robo vac had also cleverly discovered that the humans or in this case my germ-o-phobe, cleanliness is next to godliness obsessive wife would actually do the work it was programmed to do. Robo vac could hang out at its home dock probably communicating its discovery with other robots in the robot union, planning and scheming and recharging for the next work that won’t be done.

I see what you’ve done robo vac and I kinda respect it. My wife will occasionally assign me chores around the house. I often wish I could disappear to my home port (man cave) surrounded by the giant TV and a stack of books I may never read and chill out and let someone else complete the chores.

So to summarize the robots are here, they don’t like doing chores anymore than we do and they’ve already figured out we’ll still do them if necessary. Oh one more thing, never turn your back on a robo vac, they go straight for the achilles tendon.

Peace and Love,

John

The Gift I Really Wanted

A few days before Fathers Day my wife asked me if I wanted to see a picture of the gift she had purchased for me. Knowing my wife for as long as I have I quickly deduced that I didn’t like where this conversation was headed so I did what any smart husband does when asked a question by his wife that he doesn’t really want to answer….I remained silent.

She continued and preceded to tell me that the gift she had ordered wouldn’t be arriving until October. Now not only was I silent but I’m sure my face looked quizzical as I thought to myself that the gift sounded more like something to be given at Christmas and not Fathers Day. But I always like to remain gracious when presented with a gift so I attempted to retain a positive look on my face.

I’m sure that look changed when I saw the gift. It was neither something I needed, wanted or would have purchased for myself and I found the item to be wildly overpriced. Now we can debate whether most things are overpriced in today’s economy and why that is but I have neither the time nor energy for that.

I remained silent for what seemed an interminable amount of time as I quickly studied my options. My silence and lack of enthusiasm was the real answer and my wife noticed.

We seemed to have reached the age where buying gifts for each other has become difficult. We rarely exchange gifts anymore as most of the gifts are unnecessary and just add to the clutter that I now constantly contemplate but rarely do anything about.

When my wife expressed the very idea that she didn’t know what to get me I suddenly realized what I really wanted. For a couple of months now I have been unable to write on this very website. That’s not entirely true as I have only been unable to write using the laptop. I have been able to login and write using my phone which is frustrating on many levels. I like to sit at a desk with a computer screen and keyboard and tap away occasionally glancing up to notice all the misspelled words and punctuation errors. A phone is not something to write blog posts on, at least not for me.

A phone is for texting, doom scrolling, accessing the entire world, getting directions to the new restaurant, booking flights, playing games, listening to music, taking pictures, sending and receiving emails, scheduling your calendar, writing notes and remainders to yourself, listening to podcasts, keeping a huge lists of contacts most of whom you never actually contact, making videos, keeping track of your workouts so you can annoy your friends with your Strava data, sending GIPHS ( which lets be real nobody still can agree how to pronounce…is it Jiffs or Giffs?) and even perhaps making a phone call.

Somehow the login for this website changed….don’t ask me how these things happen or how they always seem to happen to me but I could only login on my phone. I tried, oh did I try numerous times to login and write. I had emails sent to me with login procedures and new temporary passwords but each time left me on the verge of destroying something, probably the laptop itself, and since I knew that wasn’t a good idea although it might be satisfying, I was reduced to writing on my phone which since I find annoying I was sure it had also simultaneously curbed my creativity.

So when my wife asked me what could she have possibly gotten me for Fathers Day I actually had an answer. As I mentioned earlier there are few gifts I need or want. I have numerous polo shirts, too many books, gadgets I don’t use, memorabilia and mementos that sit around getting dusty, t-shirts I still wear from 20 years ago and golf clubs that are one step away from being taken to the curb on garbage day. What I really appreciate now that I’ve grown older is time spent with others and somebody doing something for me that I either can’t do or find frustrating to do, and believe me anything to do with a QR code or password is at the top of my list of frustrating things.

But since my wife is an IT professional I figured it was the perfect time to have her fix my login problem and get back to writing. And if you’re wondering why I didn’t ask her sooner, I admit I was stubborn and didn’t want to ask for help with a tech issue and I know that she deals with IT issues all day which her usual response to is “it sounds like user error”…..of course she’s not wrong about this. And since I know when she comes home from a long day of programming, helping others with their passwords and proclaiming “it’s probably user error” well the last thing I wanted to bother her with was a password login problem.

A few clicks on the computer and a few clicks on my phone and the problem that had thwarted me for months was solved in less than 5 minutes. She then proceeded to cancel the other gift, the Fathers Day gift not scheduled to arrive until October (seriously what was she thinking) and I know sit happy at a desk typing away and misspelling every other word. Now if only I could figure out how to get the text the right size.

Enjoy time with others and have smart people around to fix your passwords

John

Friendly Advice

I’m not proud of this and I certainly don’t think I’m the only one who does this, but the first thing I do when I wake up is reach for my phone. Of course this is a rather new phenomenon, it wasn’t always like this. But even though knowing all the warnings against looking at my phone before bed, the light emanating from it and the doom scrolling affecting sleep, I still have my phone in bed or on the nightstand. So yes the first thing I do when I wake up is reach for it almost as a comforting touch.

I typically do a quick check of notifications and news to determine nothing too disastrous has happened overnight and it’s safe to get out of bed without the dread of an immediate crisis.

I then usually check my weather app. Having worked outside for many years this is a habit I still do to this day, and I’ve noticed a recent trend with my weather app. Along with giving the forecast for the day and if needed a weekly forecast along with the radar for the area, my weather app is now also giving advice.

At first I really didn’t even notice it, so I’m not sure when it started and I wonder how many people really do notice it as we’ve become so accustomed to glancing over many things on our phones and not really reading them. It was probably a couple of days before I really noticed and determined this advice was not a onetime thing.

What I find so fascinating about this is that the tone is more friendly, even motherly in a non-judgmental sort of way that true motherly advice could never be.

”Showers might spoil your plans and a rain jacket is a smart call when heading out”….was the advice with the daily forecast yesterday. If my mother had actually said that to me I probably would have rolled my eyes and ignored it.

”With no shadow and no glare, cloudy days have their perks”….hmm I thought I guess cloudy days do have some benefits. I surely never would have come to that conclusion any other time.

”No blue sky, but no reason to change your plans either”… well that’s a relief I thought as I still lay under the covers.

The advice seems to be given in a breezy, friendly tone as if a caring friend notices you always seem to be the one who forgets their sunglasses or umbrella.

I’m sure this is some type of AI generated advice creeping into our lives disguised as a non obtrusive feature. And I genuinely worry that our brains are slowly shutting down and dying with each query into our phones and computers. Will the next generation be capable of original thoughts without running it through an AI machine to verify. Our are own mothers being replaced as the most knowledgeable source of information?

I have a feeling this is just the beginning. First the AI machines give helpful but unasked for advice about weather ( after all we could simply look out the window or….gasp….go outside)

Soon the advice will become more pointed and judgmental and even personalized as all of life seems to be heading.

”I think I answered that last week, do we really need to go over this again”….is something that will soon be spewing forth from an AI agent or perhaps a simple query about a evening out will become a referendum about your current relationship and whether it’s really working for you.

No we all know this is just the beginning, the friendly advice now about weather soon becomes career advice, relationship advice, investment advice, parenting advice, and although we could each use a little guidance and mentoring it’s still probably a good idea to get that from trusted sources like parents or friends who actually know you and have your back.

And although I have been taking my phone to bed with me and tucking it under my pillow as I fall asleep to music or a baseball game I don’t consider that I have a relationship with it that feels like I want to trust it for life advice.

I hope the apps on my phone don’t all start giving advice….can you imagine if Facebook or Instagram start judging what you’re posting….

”You wore that to the theater and why are you squinting? Didn’t the weather app remind you to grab your sunglasses ?”

Soon our apps will be communicating with us verbally so it really will be like your mother is always with you, reminding you, scolding you and advising you…. “I told you she was no good for you and you really should have been a doctor like your cousin” ….

I can’t wait ….

Peace and love….

John

Goodbye, Farewell

Two of my favorite podcasts recently decided to stop production. The loss of 2 podcasts barely registered a blip in the podcasting market as I’m sure there were 10 more new ones that very same week. But as I listened to the last episodes I was overcome with a feeling of sadness as strange as that might sound. I mean it was only a couple of podcasts for gosh sakes. I didn’t actually know these people nor would I realistically ever have a chance to meet them and besides hearing their voices once a week I had no other connection to them but still I hate when things end and especially when they end abruptly and without warning.

And so as I listened to the last episodes I kept thinking about how it felt like a relationship was ending. Not like a romantic, passionate love affair but more like a friendship that has run its course but only one person is really ready to let go. Friendships end for many reasons and later after some reflection you sometimes wonder how and why you were actually friends to start with. There’s usually some connection of shared experiences…..school, work, where you live. These experiences bond people together and friendships are formed. You often think these relationships will last forever but typically they end when those shared experiences end. You move on and the relationship withers as time and new experiences take over.

The loss of 2 of my favorite podcasts reminded me of losing a work friendship. One minute your reaching for the last nutty doughnut and sharing eye rolls in a never ending meeting about productivity and increasing opportunities with an increased emphasis on customer service and the next day they mention their house is for sale and they’re moving across the country. The gut punch is real and startling. Who are you going to share vacation photos with or talk about the silly things your teenagers do.

Work friends are wonderful and necessary to combat the never ending drudgery of the workplace. Seriously if you weren’t getting paid would you really show up to work ? It’s the people and relationships that make the job meaningful.
Shared experiences lead to shared connections. You watch each other’s families grow up, you watch each other’s parents grow old. You smirk at stories of each other’s spouses and you have each other’s back. You cheer their success and support each other in difficult times.

Maybe there’s doughnuts involved, there’s definitely too many meetings. Sometimes there’s late nights or early mornings, sometimes holidays are spent at work and not with family. You think they’ll be there whenever you are, ready to go for another day, ready to deal with whatever the universe throws at you. Then ….they’re gone, moved on, new experiences to be had and they leave a feeling of loss.

I would sit in meetings looking at the empty chair next to me, remembering the inside jokes and inappropriate laughter, remembering the passed notes and eye rolls.

Soon that chair was filled by somebody else just as my podcast feed is filled seemingly with a never ending stream of babble. You hope you find new podcasts to replace the ones that have left….you don’t even bother trying to replace the missing friendship.

Peace and love,

John

It’s That Time of Year

It’s that strange time of year. The week between Christmas and New Year’s is when time seems to stand still. The week is still the same length, seven days, but the time gets lost in some kind of black hole in the time space continuum.

The hustle and bustle of Christmas is over and very much seems distant as everybody takes a deep breath and moves on. Oh the remnants of Christmas are still strewn about. There’s still gifts under the tree and tags still on some clothing. Gift bags and boxes are in that state of flux, halfway between thrown out or being kept for future use. And of course the tree and decorations are still very much part of the decor, although they’ve been up for so long that there’s almost a permanence to them. The decorations start to become forgotten after Christmas as people forget to turn on the tree and outdoor lights.

Of course contemplating when to take down the tree and decorations means having that yearly internal discussion about whether this is the year to scale back and perhaps toss out some of the decorations. But that would also mean doing a thorough cleaning and sorting of the storage area in the basement and really who wants to do that.

When the holidays fall during the middle of the week it becomes even more difficult to keep track of time. The whole week feels like a weekend and the weekend feels like nothing which is rather remarkable considering how important weekends can be.

You can tell how happy people are to be done with Christmas by how quickly everybody moves on. People take off on vacations this week to warmer climates or just to get away from their over decorated house.

Plans for the New Year are bandied about, lists are made and resolutions are considered. The resolve to make the next year better is very powerful this week when really it’s simply a flip of the calendar and really any change can happen at anytime. If flipping a calendar results in any meaningful change then perhaps it’s a change that won’t last but the new year certainly brings fresh attitudes and hope.

I spent a few minutes looking back at this past year. I don’t typically like to look back as my mind contemplates the negatives far more than the positives. I tend to get bogged down by the would’ve, could’ve and should’ve. But I do like to re-read a few old blog posts from this year and review the books I’ve read this year ( did I really read that many baseball books ?) Looking back can be beneficial, everybody grows and changes and suffers. Being able to move forward without being burdened or paralyzed by the past is difficult but so rewarding and important.

It’s with that hope that we look forward to each New Year’s Eve and so with balls dropping, party hats askew, and a song sung only on this day we glance forward…so go ahead and make resolutions, call old friends, book that vacation……I’ll be rearranging the basement and contemplating tossing out a few decorations ( but probably not )

Peace and Love,

John

This is How it Begins

I stood in front of the refrigerator. I held the door open staring into the abyss for way too long. I was equally puzzled and amazed that there was so much stuff crammed into it. My wife had gone shopping the previous day and the new items combined with Thanksgiving leftovers the refrigerator had an overstuffed look and feel to it that resembled how I had felt most of the weekend. But since my wife had declared she wasn’t cooking anything until the leftovers were gone I grabbed the plastic containers from the bottom shelf and began preparing the last meal of this Thanksgiving weekend.

The turkey still looked good although not as appetizing as Thursday and the mashed potato’s and stuffing were awkwardly sharing the same plastic container crammed together like commuters on a overcrowded bus who can’t but help brush up against each other. I threw everything on a plate and zapped it in the microwave, added a slice of bread and gravy and settled in for the perfect comfort food on a cold mid-western day….the hot turkey sandwich. It was then I heard the new sound in our house, a beeping and whirring….it was my wife’s new “toy”….the Robo-Vac.

When future anthropologist begin studying our civilization and the inevitable demise of it I often wonder what they will declare was the beginning of the decline. Was it the continued invention of weapons for total destruction, or perhaps it was man’s desires for enrichment and pure simple greed. As I witnessed the Robo-Vac whirring and turning and beeping I became convinced we had just let into our home the very thing that will lead to our destruction.

My wife hates vacuuming, although you would never guess this by looking in the front closet. There sits 2 vacuums each when bought were declared to be the best and most efficient vacuums available. But lets face it no matter how you dress it up it’s still a vacuum and vacuuming is tedious and a bit difficult with the cord and various attachments. And if at this point you are saying to yourself that perhaps I should take over the vacuuming duties let me assure you that I have tried. My wife is just a bit of a germ-o-phobe and neat freak and did I mention her tendencies of obsessive compulsive behavior. Each of my attempts at cleaning usually leaves my wife muttering and declaring that she’ll “just do it herself.”

And this is how we ended up with a beeping, whirring, spinning, methodical disc going back and forth and forth and back across our carpets. After finishing off the leftovers ( I bet you thought this whole blog post would be about Thanksgiving leftovers )…… I proceeded to observe the Robo-Vac. I figured I should probably acquaint myself with the object of our extinction. It was slow and methodical. That’s how all the robots are programmed I deduced as a way to gain our trust. As it was still learning the layout of our house it became stuck in the corner of the spare bedroom. This is the bedroom that has my old tennis racquets and baseball ball bats leaning about and it somehow became wedged between a bat and tennis racquet. I smirked as I dislodged it thinking myself superior.

It soon finished and headed back to it’s charging station or dock as it calls it. I wonder as it sits there the rest of the day if it’s receiving instructions from some mainframe or perhaps a data center somewhere and soon it will implement the grand strategy. I picture it going into silent mode some night and creeping up into our bed and smothering us in our sleep and then going back to it’s dock and reporting to headquarters of it’s success eliminating the humans.

I opened the pantry door and stared into it, it also seemed overly stuffed……my wife breezed through the kitchen and as if reading my mind she said…. “there’s no more pie”….. I sighed and grabbed the box of Cheezits and slumped onto the couch. I pondered the Robo-Vac and it’s meaning as I mindlessly munched Cheezits and because I didn’t want to spend the whole day becoming the embodiment of the Thanksgiving couch potato I got up and brushed all the crumbs onto the carpet. I paused knowing full well what I had just done…. I shrugged…the Robo-Vac would be out again tomorrow and I figured it was better for all of us if he had something to actually vacuum up……best to keep the labor busy so it’s not plotting against us.

Peace and Love,

John

How About a Walk

Daily writing prompt

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

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Some days getting out of bed seems difficult. It’s too cold, too dark, too early and the demands of the day feel far too overwhelming. Who amongst us hasn’t contemplated burying themselves deeper under the blankets, pulling them over our head and wishing we could stay there forever or at least until the sun comes out. But we know the longer we stay hidden under the blankets the further we fall behind in our daily responsibilities…..ugh, responsibilities….those things that people count on you to do. If only there were less responsibilities and more time wrapped in blankets dozing in that early morning slumber.

One way to trick myself to get up and moving is to begin the day with a morning walk. I do this even though I realize that I’m getting up earlier than I need to and I’m robbing myself of extra sleep under a warm comforter, but I feel it’s worth it. Living in the mid-west can make these early morning walks difficult and far less appealing than in a warmer climate. Depending on the time of year it’s still dark and cold, and the moon still glows reminding me that perhaps I’m foolish to be out so early. But with my earbuds in my ears and a winter hat covering my head plus enough layers to stay warm I set out to begin my day.

I find it fascinating to see the my neighborhood at this unique time, night drifting away and morning slowly announcing her arrival. I’ve seen deer browsing through our apple trees eating the fallen apples off the ground and even standing on their hind legs plucking them off the trees. They graze uninterrupted until they sense my presence, they freeze and stare at me for a brief moment and then silently hurry away bounding at an astonishing speed. Other nocturnal creatures scurry away as morning approaches like vampires avoiding daylight.

The birds are the first thing I usually notice, especially in the warmer months chirping and singing a beautiful natural wake up to the world. The singing of the birds means that sunrise is not far behind. Frequently as night disappears into daylight the sky is streaked in a mosaic of colors so wonderful I usually stop and appreciate the beauty before me as if standing before a work of art hanging in a museum, but this is a work of art I’m part of as it surrounds me and with it a new day presenting opportunities and possibilities that are endless.

Could I have these same feelings while burrowed under my comforter dozing in a morning slumber….probably not, and I find that my morning walk gets me going and feeling a positive vibe. I’m more likely to accomplish more if I begin the day with a walk although I have discovered that the morning nap after the morning walk is quite a wonderful feeling too.

Peace and Love,

John

Play More

Daily writing prompt

Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

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It’s not just me but I don’t think alot of people spend time “playing.”

I find it strange to drive around neighborhoods and see very few kids outside playing. I was fortunate that I grew up in a neighborhood where there was other kids my age to hang out with. We’d ride our bikes up and down the street seeing who else was outside and if there was enough of us we’d decide to do something. Sometimes there was enough of us to organize a game of some kind. We might play for hours or until one of us was called home, and when I mean called home it wasn’t our parents calling us on a cell phone it was usually Mom yelling down the street to get home or another Mom coming by and passing along a message from your Mom.

That’s how communication worked back then in neighborhoods, every Mom knew the other Mom’s and they all seemed to know each other’s phone number and even if my Mom didn’t know where I was it could be quickly determined where all the kids were hanging out by the Mom’s telephone network.

Sometimes the game we were playing devolved quickly due to arguing about the fairness of the teams or some rule interpretation but we’d do it all again the next day and the best thing was that it was all organized by us kids. There were no parents around to make every game an ultra-organized affair, in fact when a parent did get involved it was very awkward and I think most of us kids were thinking the same thing…..

“just leave us alone to figure it out”…….and usually we did

I’m not sure kids today have enough free time for play. Parents have over-scheduled organized activities for their kids that keep them busy all the time. We all know the parents who are constantly shuttling kids from soccer to dance to piano to karate to robotics to computer coding camp and on and on and on…….

As I grow older I find myself wanting to play more…..perhaps it’s just me trying to recall my youth or I realize that too much time is spent working or taking care of everyday life tasks like taking the car for an oil change or cleaning the leaves out of the gutters. Of course there are ways for adults to play……pickleball seems to be wildly popular and golf is always an activity that adults can enjoy as they age but I find myself wanting to walk more, ride my bike more, go on hikes.

A couple of years ago I bought a kite and on a perfectly windy spring day I flew my kite……I ran with it and launched it and watched as it caught the wind and climbed higher as I released more string. I watched the kite dance on the breeze dipping and swirling, often I had to pull quickly on the string to prevent a full nose dive….it was exhilarating in ways that are hard to describe……yes I felt like a kid again wanting the kite to stay aloft and hoping the string was strong enough and wouldn’t break in the spring breeze. Neighbors driving by were probably perplexed to see me standing there flying a kite but it was joyful and quite frankly I didn’t care what they thought….they might even have been jealous or not, it didn’t matter because as a kid it didn’t matter what other’s thought when you were playing, all that matter was that you were doing it and doing is much better than not doing and besides I’m not ready for pickleball

Peace and Love

John

Changes Happen

Daily writing prompt

Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

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No…..most definitely not. There’s been a big change from a year ago. I call this new phase semi-retirement or Act 2. Back in September the large multi-national global conglomerate of a company I toiled for over 25 years announced they were consolidating operations and closing the location I worked at, and although I was offered another position at a different location I thought it was best to move on.

My routine of getting up and rushing off to work and working 8 or more hours has been replaced by lazy mornings sitting in my sun-room, laptop open scrolling through news and contemplating blog posts. The birds are getting breakfast at the feeder and in the field behind our house the deer roam languidly searching for any last beans that didn’t get harvested. All the projects that get talked about and never started have been started and some have been completed to be replaced by more projects. To be honest not everything has been started, that book I keep contemplating has not been started….that might be a commitment I’m not ready for.

I spend more time researching travel destinations…..did you know the best time to go to Machu Picchu is in the spring or fall to avoid the rainy season and avoid the crowds of the summer season. If you desire to hike the Inca Trail it’s a four day hike to Machu Picchu but there’s also a train that can take you to the top. So far my semi-retirement travel has been limited to the continental U.S. but perhaps with more free time I’ll expand my destinations.

Also this has been the first year in forever that I sent out Christmas cards. I always had the excuse that December was actually my busiest month so I had no time for cards, but this year cards are mailed, decorations are hung and most of the shopping is complete with still a week before Christmas.

Much to my wife’s chagrin there are times during the week I don’t even know what day it is, and as the weather has turned colder here in the mid-west my lazy mornings are stretching into lazy afternoons. I find myself sitting around more and watching stuff instead of doing stuff. These are not habits that I want to continue so Act 2 is evolving and I recently accepted a part-time position at our local community college. I love the idea of working part-time at this point of my life. I’ll still have the flexibility of time but with the incentive and purpose that only a job can provide, and lets face it my allowance around here wasn’t increasing.

As I sit here and think about the changes of the past couple of months I realize that life can throw you some unexpected curve balls and it’s important to be willing to accept change and look ahead, perhaps even if you think your taking a step back it’s really just a precursor to a new situation….Act 2…..the mornings are better, it hardly matters what day of the week it is and finding a new purpose is a revelation to be embraced…….

So look ahead and enjoy the journey, don’t sit around and if possible start planning your next adventure…..and avoid the rainy season

Peace and Love

John

Early Bird or Night Owl

Daily writing prompt

Are you more of a night or morning person?

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Ah, the dance between the morning person who’s up with the sun or the late night soul who’s productivity peaks when most people are asleep. I’ve been both of these people at different times of my life.

The college years was probably the peak of my late night adventures. Staying up late studying, watching TV or just hanging out with friends life at that age was all about late nights. I did occasionally have an early morning class that I’m proud to say I rarely missed but after my first year I learned how to schedule my classes to avoid that situation. The hard part was adjusting my late nights to my parents routine when I came home for holidays or summer vacation. My parents were headed to bed as I was headed out the door. This routine kept going after college for a few years when I could stay out late and still get to work on time.

Unless a job situation requires working the afternoon or midnight shift most people seem to adjust their habits. This mainly happens when you get married and start having kids. Kids have this amazing ability to not comprehend schedules, clocks and the need for consistent sleep. My son was up early, ready to go when all my wife and I wanted to do was sleep just a little bit more. There were also times when he would be up late refusing to go to sleep as if he might be missing out on some great thing we were doing. I tried explaining to him that nothing is happening in this house after he goes to sleep but he really didn’t understand….of course he was only a toddler so any moment he wasn’t awake he probably felt he was missing something.

Now though I’m up early….. I like to get a morning walk and sometimes I get to see the sunrise. I’m most productive in the morning…..working out, planning the day and yes the occasional blog post. I enjoy the idea of being up when others are still in a deep slumber. It helps to have a reason to get up each day, even if my days aren’t as busy as they used to be. Kids grow up and they become the ones staying up late……..sure if I start watching a show I might stay up and watch a couple of episodes but I generally reach a time when I know my day is done and that’s alot earlier than it used to be but I know I’ll be up for the sunrise tomorrow

Peace and Love

John