541 The Summer Is Ending

Right, so summer is over, or almost over. The official last day of summer is the 22nd of September. Who is ready for the cold wintery dark mornings and evenings? I always hate getting out of bed when it is still dark outside; it is just so much harder than getting up when it is light outside. I hate when it is cold outside, I sit on the floor covered with a blanket to get ready for the winter. When it comes time to get dressed, I am pretty sure winter is the quickest time I get ready because all I want to do is get ready and get back under the blanket to warm up. It is horrible to leave work or school in the dark as well.

I have set a goal to try and refrain from putting the heating on in the morning when it is only me getting up it seems silly to heat the entire house when I only stay in one room 90% of me getting ready. I have also changed jobs which have benefited me in the way that I don’t have to get up as early as I use to. In my previous job, you had four different start times, so it was hard to get into a routine. I mean some days you got home from work at 9 pm and had to be at work at 8 am the following day (we called this the graveyard shift) because you would have less than 12 hours until you had to be at work again. Other times you finished at 5 pm and you didn’t have to be at work the next day until 11:30 so I struggled to get into a routine.

I know many people must get up earlier days, but I see it as their choice although I still applaud them. If you can successfully get up before 6 am every day for work, please tell me your secrets. I don’t mind getting up early, in fact, I like getting up early. I just struggle when I don’t regularly get up at the same time because I can’t get my body into a good routine.

Now that I have a 9 am start every day I find it a lot easier to get up as I have mostly got into a routine. Before I changed jobs I just went to bed as soon as I had done everything that needed to be done such as dinner, college assignments etc. Sometimes if I had done the late shift (8:30 pm finish) I wouldn’t be getting to bed until 1 am which is just not good if you’re getting up early. Now, I don’t have college work, so it is up to me to choose if I want to be tired or not the next day. I will admit I do still make the wrong decision, but I have no one to blame but myself for that.

Another benefit I have now is that my work is a 5-minute walk from my house; my previous workplace was either a 30-minute walk or a 10–15-minute drive after I have parked and got to the store. Some days it took me 10 minutes max because I got lucky with the traffic lights, there was no ice on the car windscreen and there was no one in front of me in the multi-storey so I could park easily, I wasn’t waiting for someone else to park. On other days it would take me up to 25 minutes because all traffic lights were red, three cars in front of me needed to park, and my windscreen was frozen. Now all I must worry about is do I know where my gloves are and are these shoes practical for walking in icy conditions, oh and occasionally I need an umbrella.

So, what is different in your life over the different seasons? Do you have to alter your time to get ready in the morning for the winter? Maybe you have a garage for your car, so it doesn’t matter if it is icy outside. I know it previously made a difference for me and now doesn’t as much.

I am still not looking forward to the cold weather. Are you?