Making the Bed Every Morning
Making the bed every morning is one of those keystone habits that Charles Duhigg writes about in his book, The Power of Habit. They are habits that, when adopted, can lead to many other positive life changes. Here, I'll share what was stopping me from engaging in this habit, and how I finally overcame the mental roadblocks.
Mental Roadblocks
I had been hearing for years about the benefits of making your bed every morning. Two things stopped me from trying. The first, is that I had this mental image of what a "made" bed was supposed to look like, and it's something like the photo above.
The thing is, I only like to use one blanket at night, and it's the same blanket regardless of the season. So I don't like to mess with top sheets or ornamental pillows or bedspreads. Those accessories, although aesthetically pleasing, just get in the way between me and bedtime.
The second hurdle was that my husband uses probably 15 blankets at night, and we don't share any of them. So I couldn't wrap my head around how to deal with arranging all the blankets in a way that made for a cohesive look and didn't take 30 minutes every day. Until this week.
The Breakthrough
It must be all the can-do attitude and positive thinking books I've been reading recently, but it suddenly occurred to me that I didn't need to make my bed look like our guest room bed. I also realized that I could treat my husband's side of the bed and mine as two separate beds. With this, I came up with a quick and easy way to make my side of the bed so that it looked tidier, but didn't take so much time and energy that I would be discouraged from doing it every morning.
You can see in the picture above that my made bed is far from perfect, but it's made according to the parameters I've defined. You can also see some of the crazy blanket situation on my husband's side of the bed. This approach has worked so well that my kids have gotten into it.
In Conclusion
Making my bed every morning definitely gives me a feeling of tidiness and organization that I didn't have before. The way I've settled on doing it gets the job done without turning it into a whole ordeal. Now, we just have to figure out how to deal with my husband's side of the bed.
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| Our Guest Room Bed |
Mental Roadblocks
I had been hearing for years about the benefits of making your bed every morning. Two things stopped me from trying. The first, is that I had this mental image of what a "made" bed was supposed to look like, and it's something like the photo above.
The thing is, I only like to use one blanket at night, and it's the same blanket regardless of the season. So I don't like to mess with top sheets or ornamental pillows or bedspreads. Those accessories, although aesthetically pleasing, just get in the way between me and bedtime.
The second hurdle was that my husband uses probably 15 blankets at night, and we don't share any of them. So I couldn't wrap my head around how to deal with arranging all the blankets in a way that made for a cohesive look and didn't take 30 minutes every day. Until this week.
The Breakthrough
It must be all the can-do attitude and positive thinking books I've been reading recently, but it suddenly occurred to me that I didn't need to make my bed look like our guest room bed. I also realized that I could treat my husband's side of the bed and mine as two separate beds. With this, I came up with a quick and easy way to make my side of the bed so that it looked tidier, but didn't take so much time and energy that I would be discouraged from doing it every morning.
 |
| My Made Bed |
You can see in the picture above that my made bed is far from perfect, but it's made according to the parameters I've defined. You can also see some of the crazy blanket situation on my husband's side of the bed. This approach has worked so well that my kids have gotten into it.
In Conclusion
Making my bed every morning definitely gives me a feeling of tidiness and organization that I didn't have before. The way I've settled on doing it gets the job done without turning it into a whole ordeal. Now, we just have to figure out how to deal with my husband's side of the bed.
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