Can one little shift change your world?
In my head, retirement meant no alarms. After decades of waking to an alarm, I believed I had earned the right to never set one again. Even when I started my second career as a writer, I resisted. It’s not like I am getting paid to write. I should be able to write whenever I want, right?
But looking back, that mindset kept me from one little shift that could change my world.
I’ve always called myself a night owl. My best writing comes after midnight, I insisted. Yet every book I read about writing delivers the same message. Write in the morning. I fought it. I even wrote a blog declaring, “I can’t.” Recently, everything I have read or heard about waking early ganged up on me.
Still, I told myself that setting an alarm meant waking up before I’d gotten enough sleep, and I can’t write when I am tired. Then I checked the weekly sleep totals on my Garmin. Except for the week I came home from Alaska sick, I slept 7 to 7.5 hours a night, without an alarm. Now after three weeks of setting one? I averaged 7 to 7.5. It turns out my “sleep until I wake up” philosophy never gave me more rest. It just gave me more angst.
In sixty-one years, I have never had a bedtime. For three weeks now, I’ve set an alarm and focused on getting to bed earlier. For twelve days, I have written in the morning. Yesterday I woke before my alarm. Epiphany! All this struggle is not about an alarm? It’s about a bedtime? Is it really that simple? One little shift has changed my world.
How about you? Can one little shift change your world? Send me your thoughts.
Thanks for being a part of this journey!
If you enjoyed reading this blog, I’d love your support in growing this community! Please share this with your friends, family, or anyone who might find it interesting. Your shares help me reach more people to help them find their joy.
Joy M. Walker
November 20, 2025 @ 3:15 pm
As a youngster, bedtime felt like a dumb rule made up by grownups. Now I wish I had one I could actually stick to—or better yet, a workday with a built-in nap time like in kindergarten. Those downtime moments seemed silly as a child, but as an adult, they’re downright enviable
November 20, 2025 @ 5:15 pm
Ha! That’s so funny. I always figured you were better about getting to bed at a decent time. I don’t know why, but I don’t remember mom and dad giving me a bedtime. I remember one time begging mom to give me one, but then she didn’t enforce it. I remember staying up until my siblings went to bed. But now that I think about it, I also remember her counting down and telling Cathy and I we had ten counts to get to bed and have the light out. So which one was it? I guess I will have to ask my older siblings.
November 21, 2025 @ 2:12 pm
AHAHAHAHAHA! I have to do this: “I told you so” ………Now we can go to bed a the same time when you in my house. LOL! …and get up.
December 3, 2025 @ 11:45 am
Oh, I don’t know that I can go to bed and get up as EARLY as you. Baby steps. Ha!
November 28, 2025 @ 4:13 pm
I was the youngest and hated having the earliest bedtime. Now that I am older and retired, I love the luxury of going to bed whenever I want, and reading until I want to stop! I still relish the ability to sleep until I wake up. I’ll think about your idea of writing in the morning……Ann
December 3, 2025 @ 11:43 am
Thanks for your comments, Ann. It’s a lot to process. I’m not there yet, but it does feel better to be up and writing when the rest of the world is awake. Funny how we go back to habits and beliefs formed in us as children. Old habits, old mindsets are hard to break. Let me know if you try the morning writing idea.