Late to Bed ~ Early to Rise

I know the title of today's post is a little off from what you usually hear it stated. The old saying is "early to bed, early to rise makes one healthy, wealthy and wise." We have found that statement to be true. For if one is to make the most of the days given them. Then we need to be rested (early to bed), then up making the most of our daylight time (early to rise). The end results of this bedtime schedule are many and worth pursuing. One is becoming healthy ~ by getting proper exercise through physical activity, restorative rest for our bodies and eating the balanced nutritious meals we have time to prepare. Two, by being in our best healthy shape we are able to be productive workers. Using our time in ways to either generate money or save it for future use/needs. Which leads to being wealthy both financially and emotionally. Practicing both of these disciplines as a lifestyle is a sign of wise person. Of putting into practice principles that help, not hinder as some would think.

The hard part for us is making it work on an ever evolving farm. As those of you who have ever lived on one could attest. There is never a shortage of work, projects and chores to be done. My to-do list is always longer than my day. After several days and weeks of that kind of pace. It also tends to be longer than my energy level too. The past 2 years has been a daily search for ways to make things work easier for us and to help life go smoother in general. As we have steadily built this farm from the ground up. There are days when one or the other, even both of us feel like our efforts are going backwards. We will decide to change one aspect of our schedule or how we do chores. Only to find it doesn't work as well as we thought it would or something unseen pops up and requires a different avenue to be sought. They key I have found is to be flexible. As each area of the farm has grown so have the chores, challenges and chaos sometimes. But I don't want to give you a negative picture here, for the blessings are worth the effort to have one. Even on those days when we want to throw up our hands and say "I can't do this."

This past Spring and the Summer months thus far have been opportunities for growth both in the farm and ourselves. Most people have the mindset when faced with "difficulties" to see them as a negative force in their lives. Something to hinder, cause them trouble or look like an impossibility. I've learned over the years and even still have to remind myself at times when faced with what appears to be a hard task or roadblock. That they are simply opportunities to learn something new, fine tune an already learned skill or stretch myself physically, emotionally or spiritually. Which are all worth stretching and beneficial to round me out into the person I was born to be.

The new changes this year of a larger garden and increases in livestock. ARE blessings in themselves and what you would hope to happen on a farm. Even though they have served to push us a little physically, caused some frustrating moments and had our heads together to find some solutions to what we were facing. Our days long, our tasks many, the needs great, our bodies exhausted and our spirits lagging just a bit. For we were seeing too many days with a late bedtime due to the demands of the farm and Lon's full time job. Struggling with rising with the sun and having an energetic body ready to face the new day. Playtime was missing from our weeks as well. Which reminds me of another old saying "All work and no play leaves one a dull boy/girl."

Talking out "opportunities" is a great avenue towards finding solutions. Instead of muddling through the days and wishing life was easier. Which really doesn't work in the long run. For us the facts of what we were facing wasn't going to change that much. We had planted a larger garden, there were still big construction projects to be done, our goat herd had increased with the new births and new challenges would faced us each day. How we faced them could be changed though. The answer for us was to get back to the early to bed and early to rise.

A decision to start earlier with the chores would allow Lon to help out even on the days he had to drive into work. Giving us a chance to share the load, to start our day in the cooler hours of it, of spending more time together doing what we love, allowing us more free time in the middle of the HOT summer days we are experiencing and having our evenings free for more personal pursuits. To do so required my getting up earlier than I had been, preparing our dinner meal in the early afternoon and making sure we stop our labors instead of working till the last ray of light left the sky. Another thing we decided to implement is having a day set aside other than Sunday, just for leisure, play and rest. Our bodies may not always be at rest on these days, but we try to have our minds at rest. Minimal chores are done; water, food and safety for everyone. Then we don't think about, plan or problem solve any aspect about the farm. It's like a mental vacation from our work.

So far we are doing pretty good with our efforts. There will always be days when something comes up, an emergency or an illness. That can throw a "monkey-wrench" into the plan but it helps to have some flexibility and a go with the flow mentality. Then simply getting back on track the next day. Life is never the same from day to day, year to year or even person to person. It would be a pretty dull one if was.

Rising to meet the opportunities,
Deborah