Moment of Truth Monday

Depending on your definition of a morning person, I may or may NOT be one. I [might] prefer keeping talking to a minimum while my brain wakes up and my limbs respond to its corresponding signals. In the morning, I [might] drag around with a cup of hot tea giving silent smiles in response to cheery greetings.

My morning rhythm has, on occasion, been interpreted as cranky. I have been lectured and teased over the years about my sluggish morning pace. Be joyful. Be engaging. Be different. Yes, I have been on the receiving end of such messages.

Here’s the thing, a louder message behind those statements weighed on me. Be joyful implied misery. Be engaging implied disconnection. Be different implied dissatisfaction with a lack of sameness. None of those things were typically driving my morning interactions. I just needed a little more time to wake up and find my words.

It’s in our nature to want things the same. Many of us secretly think life would be easier if everyone thought or acted like us. Morning people would like everyone else to get on board with their early morning brainstorming meetings. Mid-day people just know something needs to be rewired in the brains of the early birds.

Truth is, if I need you to be like me strictly for the sake of my comfort, something is screwy. We were created with a unique fingerprint, right? So why would we ever expect to all adopt the same morning routine, parenting style, convictions, or thought processes?

Yesterday, I shared some of my mothering lessons with my family. I told them I thought the hardest part of mothering was giving each child the space to be themselves. Giving them freedom to try out their personality was hard for me. My instinct was to shut down idle chatter and the flailing of all their limbs. Adjusting my preferences has always been the hardest part of parenting.

Life would be one-dimensional and boring if we were all the same. It might make immediate circumstances easier, but the long-term results would be less than desirable.

So, here’s to the early birds, night owls, and all those between. There’s enough room for everyone. You aren’t flawed if you need time to percolate in the morning. You aren’t flawed if you are bubbly and full of life in the morning. You aren’t flawed if you don’t know if you fit on the continuum.

Do me a favor, though. Take a minute and appreciate a difference you notice in a loved one, friend, or co-worker. Thank them for one thing you recognize they supplement in your life.

If you’ve been criticized for not being like everyone else, be kind to yourself today. Consider how your unique bent makes the world better.