I’m trying something new in my life.

I’m going to create a bedtime (for myself).

And (even more impressively) I’m going to attempt to stick to it!

I’m in the middle of reading Gretchen Rubin’s book, “Better Than Before” (and last night I went to see her speak at Seattle’s Central Library, which was awesome) and I’ve come to the realization that I’m really not a creature of habits or routines.

Actually, I tend to kind of do whatever I feel like doing every day. Some things, of course, I do daily, but most things I decide in the moment whether I want to do them, instead of creating habits that I just do without thinking about it. Like breakfast, for example, sometimes I eat it – sometimes I don’t. Even showering… some days I shower in the mornings, sometimes in the afternoons, sometimes at night, (sometimes not at all)…

Anyway, I’m going to work on cultivating habits in general, but the one area of my life that I think I could immediately improve is the amount of sleep I get.

My normal sleep ‘habits’ involve me staying awake until I simply run out of things to do or get too exhausted to do anything else (usually around 1-2am) and then waking up & getting out of bed at some point when Tim needs to leave for work. I probably average about 6 hours per sleep each night, and sometimes that’s interrupted by our toddler who has decided to wake up at 5am just to cry for a while.

Well I’ve been really tired lately (thanks, pregnancy and previously-mentioned-toddler) and have decided to focus on sleep while I still can, before this newborn throws me into a whirlwind!

Therefore, I’ve decided that 11pm is my new bedtime. If I stay up past this, I’m going to try to at least recognize, ‘lady, you’re past your bedtime!’

I’m hoping this extra sleep (about 2 hours per night!) will allow me to wake up with more energy, have continued energy throughout the day, be in a better mood (especially with Clara), improve productivity, and generally feel better as I get into the third trimester of pregnancy.

Wish me luck.

Do you go to bed and wake up at the same time each day?