4:00 a.m.

For the past two years it's been pretty common for me to be wide awake around 4:00 in the morning and not be able to go back to sleep. I used to try and solve the problem, but then I decided to just embrace it. I'm awake. I might as well take advantage of it!

Here are some of the things I do in the ridiculous hours of the morning when I can't go back to sleep:

Go to work - I'm blessed to work at a place where I pretty much make my own hours. I frequently arrive at work by 5:00 in the morning (my earliest has been 4:30). 

Text Nicky - Nicky is currently three hours ahead of us, and sometimes I text him photos and messages when I'm awake. He can't respond unless it's P-Day, but I can see when he has viewed my messages.

Schedule texts - if I have texts I need to respond to, I'll draft them and schedule them to send at a more reasonable hour (now you will always wonder if my text was just sent, or if I was thinking about you at 4:00 am).

Go to McDonald’s - I have my McDonald's patronage down to an art. I know which locations are 24 hours and which ones open at 5:00 a.m. I'm not opposed to going to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast, but they don't open until 6:30, and frankly, I don't understand that nonsense!

Watch Dancing with the Stars - this is my Wednesday morning activity. On Tuesday night I delete all of my social media apps from my phone so I don't accidentally see any spoilers. Then I watch the episode on Disney+ in the morning and reinstall my apps when I'm ready. 

Doom scroll - wish it weren't so, but I'm not gonna lie about. 

Play Ark Nova or Wingspan - I often fall asleep playing Ark Nova and then finish the game when I wake up. 

Pay bills - on days that auto deposit hits, I get the money moving first thing. 

Read scriptures or conference talks - secretly I do this because it's one activity that sometimes helps me fall back asleep. I appreciate a good study session, but I also don't mind if it makes me snooze. 

Perform in-depth Google research - 4:00 a.m. is a great time to do some fact checking.

Place orders for grocery delivery - I'm a fan of the 6:00-8:00 a.m. delivery window offered by Walmart. I can have all my groceries in my house before I go to work. 

Impulse shop - some of my best and worst shopping experiences have taken place in the wee hours of the morning. Recently I ordered paper plates from Sam's Club and have no idea how it happened. I just got an email saying my paper plates had shipped. 

Read - I'm trying to ease myself back into enjoying books. I try to always have at least one selection in my Kindle app. 

Blog - a portion of this very post was drafted between 4:00-6:00 a.m. over the course of three days.

As you can tell, a lot of these are "phone tasks" which raises the question of my sleep issues being related to blue light exposure. I'm always on my phone until the moment I fall asleep - not gonna lie. My zoo isn't going to build itself, after all! So it's possible I am sabotaging myself by getting on my phone at 4:00 a.m., but in my defense, I don't turn to my phone unless I know I'm not going back to sleep. I always at least try to go back to sleep before I begin my phone business. 

Things I don't do when I can't go back to sleep at 4:00 a.m: clean and exercise.