Fall Back! It’s Time for Change!

You know summer is officially over when Daylight Saving Time comes. You’re welcome, Friends. I’m giving you a little ARK (Act of Random of Kindness). I'm reminding you to get that extra hour of glorious sleep that you deserve! Daylight Saving Time 2018 will end tomorrow morning, Sunday, at 2 a.m., so it'll be best to set your clocks back an hour before retiring tonight!

This is my favorite time change – the one that “falls back” and we get a much needed extra hour of sleep – unlike the Spring time change when it advances an hour and we lose an hour of sleep. We adults can get this and adapt quite readily. But, oh my goodness, I remember when my babies and grandbabies were babies and those time changes came and it was a work-out to get them on the new schedule. They didn’t understand they could get an extra hour of sleep in the Fall. But, these days, wise young moms and dads have learned to trick the time clock. They start regulating the kids’ schedule way before tonight. They gradually moved bedtime and morning wake up time and nap times later by 10-15 minutes. By the time Sunday comes, those kiddos’ schedule is already tracking the new time.

I

love that. Adapting to change. Rather than grumpy moms, dads and kids….being forward thinking. What can I do to make what I know is coming…..an easier, calmer, less-stressful outcome? First of all, I can ACCEPT that changes are inevitable. Like this Daylight Saving Time change – it’s going to happen whether we want it to or not – we can thank good old Benjamin Franklin for that! He proposed rising an hour earlier in order to conserve candles, but it didn't take root until World War II when President Franklin D. Roosevelt started what he called "War Time” in an effort to save resources. Thanks, Ben and President Roosevelt!"

Being willing to embrace change has so many rewards. I accepted change when I left Oklahoma after 40 years and here I am two years later with a host of new friends, I’m only 5 minutes away from my family here and enjoy sweet times that I would have missed if I hadn’t made the change. I’m also only 4 hours away from all of my children in Austin. While I still love my Tulsa family and friends and relish getting back to them as often as I can, I’ve made this adjustment and what a blessing it is to me.

Change in our lives is inevitable. We can hold change like the tight reins of a horse and resist it and refuse to submit to change, or we can shed that old stuck-in-the-mud thinking of “I’ve ALWAYS done it this way, and I’ll never change” or embrace change and grow and learn and adapt and be ALL God destined us to be. Maybe it’s time to rethink that new hairstyle, that better job, that computer course to up your game, that circle of friends, that same-oh-same-oh attitude of gloom, doom, and despair. Just maybe it’s time to get a new lease on life by being willing to CHANGE!