be more punctual

This week has been really bad for my punctuality goal because I’ve been staying in bed really late. I’m not necessarily even sleepy, just cold and ambivalent about getting up. So I don’t get out of bed until I absolutely have to, then I skip my breakfast and drive to work like a Masshole.

Today was better because I got up at 6:30. but then I went on the internet and wrote stupid posts like this to waste time, so now it’s just like I overslept!

I always joke with my boyfriend that he can’t get mad at me for running late, because when we were library desk co-workers (before we started dating) I would consistently show up at least 5 minutes late because I was watching “Law and Order” and wanted to see the end. When the Red Sox were playing, I’d show up even later.

But this is a problem and not something I should be proud of. Honestly I feel terrible about how I’m always late, but it’s hard to figure out how to change. I have to be at school at 7:30 AM twice a week, and it’s so hard for me to leave at 6:55 in order to get there on time. It really sucks when by 7:05 I already know I’m going to be late – after not showering and skipping breakfast in order to try to get ready on time. Then I have to drive incredibly fast on the highway in order to make it almost on time, and when I get there at 7:33 and rush into the room carrying all of my stuff (definitely no time to stop in my classroom and set down my lunch box) I feel incredibly self-conscious about walking in late AGAIN.

Then I had to join a committee that also schedules its meetings at 7:30, so I have to get up early and go through all that stress on another day as well. This morning I had one of those meetings and although I ran into the school still wearing my sunglasses and barely carrying all of my bags, I actually made it. At 7:45, one of the committee members walked in and I spent a minute just looking at her and wondering how confident she must be to show up that late and not look guilty. I skipped the last two of these meetings because I was embarassed about showing up 5 minutes late. I realize that’s kindof backward, but I swear it felt better to me.

And yeah, I’m doing all those things like packing my bag up the night before, setting my alarm clock ahead ten minutes, streamlining my morning routine as much as possible – and the best I can ever hope for is arriving exactly on time to something. Even the days when I don’t have 7:30 meetings I show up exactly when the school day starts.