Have you ever gotten up on the wrong side of
the bed? Yeah, me too. And so have my kids. And
because that's not just an us thing, let's talk
about it today on the Live Out Loud podcast.
Practical applications for something that is
known as reframing your day. Oh, this is going
to be a good one. Let's go. Have you ever wondered
where sayings come from? There's actually a website
that talks about old sayings and where they come
from. And it is actually quite interesting to
know the origin of certain things and why we
say them today. And they're quite comical when
to know why we say the things that we do. But
because a lot of these sayings have been around
for so long and so many years, I feel like As
a society we just accept sayings that are popular
and a lot of the times we don't even give thought
to the things that we're saying because it is
a popular thing to say or it is an accepted thing
to say. And it is no different with this one
of waking up on the wrong side of the bed. I
know I have used it, I've thrown it out, my kids
have used it, and many people I know. We will
just throw it out there and expect people to
accept that my behavior stems from waking up
on the wrong side of the bed. Now, I'm not here
to say that every day has to be 100 % the best
and show up every single day with peak performance.
I'm not saying that at all. There are so many
days that are so hard to show up and so many
days that it does feel like we woke up on the
wrong side of the bed, whatever that means. But
I think that because it is an accepted phrase,
we expect people to accept our behavior as okay
and we even expect that of ourselves as well.
And there's a couple things that I can see going
wrong with this mentality of accepting this.
Is one, our days can feel like they're wasted
because nothing can go right from the beginning.
And number two, which is a very important one,
we do not take ownership over our actions. A
very dangerous path to start down on and a very
dangerous place to be. But because we are here
to encourage each other, we are going to talk
about the idea of reframing your day and escaping
the waking up on the wrong side of the bed mentality.
So what does reframing your day actually mean
and look like? If we take a whole day, we have
24 hours. We take many of those hours away for
hopefully a good night's sleep. We will base
our calculations on a 13 hour awake. time frame.
So this would mean we have 13 hours a week which
would be 780 minutes and 46 ,800 seconds. I feel
like seconds is too small to work with and hours
is kind of a little big to also wrap our brains
around so we're going to work with minutes. If
we say that we have 780 waking minutes disregarding
if you go to bed early or late or all of this,
if you wake up early or late. Say we have 780
minutes of wake time with our families, with
our kids, with our thoughts, with ourselves,
with others, with friends, so on. What often
happens is that when we wake up on the wrong
side of the bed and we take on this idea, the
rest of the 700 and something minutes left after
our feet have hit the ground and we've made a
mistake, and we have said I woke up on the wrong
side of the bed are then wasted for the most
part. Not always, but for the most part they
can feel very wasted. So I'm going to share with
you something we have been doing for two years
now. Something I found online from another amazing
mom and I cannot remember who it was that shared
this and I saw it came across it and we have
adopted it into our family life and it has proven
to be amazing when we have off days. The idea
of reframing your day is this. You take your
780 minutes or your 13 hours and you cut them
into four big blocks. And I feel like the four
is a very important detail. When I first started,
I was thinking, okay, maybe it could be three,
but trust me on this, four is the sweet spot
and where it needs to be. So an example of your
day broken up into four blocks could be your
first quarter, which could be 6 to 10 am, and
your second quarter, 10 to 2 pm, your third quarter,
2 to 6, and then your fourth one, 6 to 10. Obviously
way more than 13 hours because as a mom, we are
up for way longer than that with our crying babies
or children and all of the things that need to
be done. The hours don't really matter. It matters
how it works for your life, for your family.
So if you get up at five, that's when you start.
If you get up at seven, that is when you start.
So you do four big blocks of time, morning, midday,
afternoon, and evening. The idea is that instead
of having 780 minutes or 800 and something minutes
to work with in your day, you have now cut it
up into sections that make it easier for assessing
and for starting over. The idea is that instead
of having what would 16 hours be 900 and something,
960 minutes to work with, we have now sectioned
it off into four quarters that are way more manageable
for us to get through. And this is how it has
played out in our family over the past two years
since we have started using this method. At the
beginning I had to explain what the idea was
and I set up how it was going to operate and
work and how everyone could use it in their own
personal life. But once it was adopted, It has
flourished and it has helped everyone in our
family. Because before the mentality was that
if we woke up and we were having a rough day
or we didn't quite wake up with a full potential
energy to use, the rest of the day was ruined.
Our brains trick us into thinking that the rest
of our day is now ruined. or that we cannot regain
control and make better decisions for some reason,
our brains are just so wonderful like that. But
once we got the concept of breaking up our day,
we could then see that our first block in the
morning, if it started off rough, it gave us
a chance to reset multiple times a day instead
of waiting till the evening to reset and starting
again in the morning. Which is a wonderful gift
to give to yourself and to your family, to your
kids. A mini, mini reset during your day is amazing.
And while I think we always have the ability
to reset, for some reason this method really
helps you operate in a healthy mentality that
it is okay to reset things. I've had my 8 and
11 year old come to me, unprompted, to say, Mom,
I need to reset again because this and this is
happening or I feel like I cannot catch a break
or I'm not doing well and I need a reset or they
will admit that the first block of their day
didn't go quite as they had hoped or planned
and they didn't show quite the fruits of the
spirit that they wanted to and then with much
joy they will express how excited they are that
they still have the other three blocks to do
and try better and live fully. And so while it
is not a fix all problems idea or mentality,
it is a helpful tool to give yourself and your
children to realize that it is okay on the days
that we get up and we don't feel 100%. But God
allows us to rest in him and say, you know what?
I need your help again and again. And he allows
for the space to say, I am not enough. I need
you. He allows for the space to say, I messed
up, but I want to try harder and better in the
next portion of my day. Instead of it being an
entirely wasted day, there is grace in those
moments to start over. And Honestly, the beauty
of your day being cut up into four sections and
four segments it actually helps you be more productive
in those segments because I don't know how to
explain it your brain just it just plays tricks
on you and you know that the the first four hours
for first five hours are coming to an end and
For some reason they become way more productive
than knowing you have 15 hours of wake time Another
beautiful perk that this idea of reframing your
day also gives you is giving you opportunities
to assess where you're at in your day if you
have to have a reset, if you need to apologize.
My kids will use this reset as a time to apologize
or say, I am sorry I was not respectful or loving
in the first part of my day, but… and then they
will insert whatever they need to say. Because
I think it is so easy to go about our day our
16 hours of wake time or 12 hours and and just
fly through them and not be mindful of where
we are at until the evening and then whenever
we look back perhaps there were so many little
things that had we taken the time to stop and
assess we could have changed in the moment instead
of waiting till the evening to look back and
then start again the next day. So, reframing
your day is a beautiful tool that has worked
for us and I really do hope that it blesses your
family if you do choose to use it to implement
it in your family. And honestly, if you have
any questions about it, You can reach out, ask
me on Instagram at elliantheboys .co or you can
also look it up online and look up what reframing
your day is and looks like for other people.
And it is a method that has worked for many and
one that I am excited to share with you today.
Alright dear listener, this is where we part
ways for today, but tune in to next conversation
on which we will have a very special guest joining
us. I may just leave you hanging for who the
special guest is, but it is someone who I love
very dearly and we will be talking about some
very hard things in this season of life specifically
for them. They get to share that with us. And
also what it's like finding friends in today's
world. Very good questions. I'm very excited
to sit down and chat with them here on the Live
Out Loud podcast.