I really enjoy working out, but am very much a creature of habit. When I get into the flow, hitting the weights, running, and biking regularly, I can bang out all three in a day and finish wanting more. When my flow gets broken, the whole concept sounds downright dreary and I pretend the basement (where the workout equipment is stored) is flooded.
As adulthood progresses and parenthood looms, my afternoons are less consistent, more unpredictable, and busier. This throws my workout routine off, generally leading to long stretches without any exercise. This frustrates me to no end.
When my running partner is in high gear, I can usually motivate myself for 5:30am runs with her. But if we’re not out there by that time, there is no use trying, as the day starts early for us teachers, earlier than many other professions. And I can’t bring myself to do weight work in the morning. I’m too sluggish… the muscles aren’t awake, leaving a subpar and potentially dangerous workout.
What’s this have to do with timing? Well, I have no problem getting up early. I could easily wake up at 5am* and bang out all my afternoon errands without missing a beat… IF any of the stores were open. They’re not. Not around here. The grocery store opens at 7, making it the only place I can visit before I risk being late for work. CVS isn’t open until 8 and many other stores look deserted well past 10.
The world would be a more Kazzy friendly place if it allowed for more morning errands and freer afternoons. Does anyone else feel this way? Or am I just crazy?
* It helps that I require very little sleep and regularly run on 6 hours or fewer. I often describe myself as the world’s worst sleeper; I don’t know that I’ve ever successfully napped.
I love sleep. On days that I work out (Monday through Thursday) I only require 6.5 or 7 hours, but on my days off I like at least 8 hours of sleep. I would take a nap every single day if that pesky work didn’t get in the way.
I’m also a morning person. I frequently find that my to-do list is almost all taken care of by 10 am, no matter what day of the week it is. Everything seems to take more effort if I have to do it after lunch.
If I get to work early and my prep work is done, I often have time to make a few phone calls. But this is all before 8AM… so, bubkis…
I do realize that I could get household chores done… even getting my mise en place done for dinner with recipes that allow it. It’s just hard to motivate myself to get up and do that, but if it frees up the afternoons, it might be worth it.
My work is so time-specific. If I plan to teach a math lesson at 9:15, I can’t really do anything at any earlier point to get it done earlier. Nature of the beast.
Yes you are crazy. Unless you live in Vegas or a huge city there is just not enough call for businesses to be open that much. Having shops open a few extra hours would mean a lot more work hours but no more business. The same people would shop at store x but they would end up paying out a lot more in salary.
I can feel your pain about workout schedules a bit since i have a set schedule i keep to. During the winter i xc skate ski five days a week. i go right after work T,W and Th and and get in good hard ski before dinner. I was thinking about joining a training group which would have been fun, i would have improved my skiing and i could have met people to ski with. But the group didn’t start until 630 but i usually am skiing by 5. It would have been a big adjustment to start so much later. Maybe next year. Routine does help working out.
I wouldn’t expect such a drastic change in business practices just because of me. But I wonder if there are others who’d rather start their day with errands than work. How we largely came to near-universally accept that our day starts just a few hours before work with that time being spent getting ready for work is curious to me.
Actually i think in general businesses are open longer hours then many other places and far more than when i was a kid. Banks certainly stay open later. 24/7 quikee marts are common place as well as markets staying open later.
This is true. Things are certainly MORE convenient now than they once were. Of course, where you live plays a factor. This is the most rural area we’ve lived (though would qualify as a suburb by most standards) so the options are far more limited relative to what we’re used to.
I’d also venture to guess that dual-income families feel this more than single-income ones, which were much more the norm historically in this country. One spouse (usually the husband) worked while the other (usually the wife) was free to do the errands during the day; the former could just come home after work (with likely shorter hours) and just expect/demand that dinner was ready and the chores are done. Zazzy and I both work, with her typically having longer days. I’m also more inclined to do chores and errands; I just wish I could do them at 5am.
I should also report that getting up today at 5AM to chop lettuce for dinner was much harder than expected. I blame that on today being the Friday before a two-week break.
Our local (suburban, more or less walking distance from my house) CVS and Safeway are both 24 hours. Though for me, a natural-born late riser, this means “open late at 2 AM” not “open early at 5 AM”,
It’s the easiest thing in the world for me to stay up late. It’s the hardest thing in the world for me to wake up early.
Once I get into a wakeup routine, it sticks. If I wake at 6AM everyday for work, I’m rarely asleep past 7 on the weekend, unless I had a big night out the night before. Even then, I’m usually up and at’em by 8 or 9. My friends hate traveling with me because I’m usually jumping on the bed with a beer in hand just a few hours after we hit the hay. This has slowed a bit as I’ve aged but, yea, I’m just lousy at sleeping. I must have missed that class growing up.
i was much in the same boat. then the kid came along.
and though i never minded being up at 7 or even 6 after a night of rockin’ in the free world or whatever – sunrise on the brooklyn bridge is nice despite the jerkwad cyclists – it’s doing it unwillingly that makes it a grind. now on the rare day i sleep until 7 i’m both overjoyed (whoa, sleep! hell yah player!) and scared (oh god what happened did he choke on a pillow?!!?!) even though he’s three and will in short time be in our room to request milk and tv and other such essentials of modern life.