This morning, I hit the snooze button on the alarm. Nine more minutes of blissful sleep.

I’ve had the same alarm clock since I was in high school. Actually, I think I had the same alarm clock in Junior High School.  For more than 35 years it’s been waking me up more or less daily.  I think it’s one of my most significant long-term possessions; and I know that the snooze button gives me nine more minutes in bed.

But nine minutes is hell on the tai chi schedule.  It doesn’t prevent me from doing it, but it does prevent me from doing a slow, stately, muscled workout.  And it has a tendency to crowd other things out of my schedule.  Just nine minutes extra sleep in the morning on a weekday is enough to throw off my morning routine, and makes it difficult to fulfill my other morning commitments.

Sometimes I hit the snooze button twice.

And then I’m really thrown off.

I tend not to write about this, like it was some sort of secret shame.  It’s not; it doesn’t have to be; it shouldn’t be.  But it means that there’s a whole chain of relevant events which I need to fix if I want to keep my tai chi practice time, and to the forms in a long way in the mornings.  I need more sleep; and the best way to get it is to go to bed earlier, and limit my weeknight evening activities, and reduce my coffee intake.

Funny, isn’t it?  You make a change in one part of your life, and everything is going swimmingly. Then, you suddenly discover that this one particular change offers the opportunity to overturn nearly everything else about your life — some welcome changes, and some not so much.  It’s a dilemma and a challenge and an opportunity.

Liked it? Take a second to support Andrew on Patreon!