Early to Bed Early to Rise

I think it’s very important for the body to get plenty of rest. I learned this through my personal experience living in the tribe. As soon as the sun goes down, everyone retires to their huts and sits around the fire until they fall asleep. For us, we go to bed at eight, and sometimes my brothers and I will stay up until nine reading, but that's about it. There just isn’t a lot to do at night, and we have long since watched all of our movies, so the only other option is to sleep, read, or play games.

I wake up at 6:00 AM or earlier; if the weather is rainy and cold, sometimes I will go out hunting until 7:00. If, instead of hunting, I stay inside and read for 30 minutes, I stay groggy much longer than if I'm outside running around in the jungle. It’s a great routine, and it makes me feel energetic and ready for the day. It also seems to add many hours to the day.

The Lord made the daytime for us to work and the night so that we could rest. I'm not saying it’s bad to stay up late, but to me it seems better to go to bed early and wake up early. As my grandfather Stewart taught me and his mom taught him and her father taught her before that, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” : )

(This quote is found in Poor Richard’s Almanac, written by Benjamin Franklin.)