Whilst a pseud at heart, this Philosopher-In-Residence clings on to the notion that she is in some way Down With The Kids.

Recently, this has manifested via sort-of-knowing-a-bit-about-Snapchat-but-not-being-interested-in-using-myself.

Said deep and broad knowledge of the popular social media platform extends to being aware that said “Kids” have a keenness to maintain a Snapchat streak, ie, keep an unbroken messaging chain going as long as possible.

What does any of this have to do with alarm, I hear you cry (beyond being alarmed that I may have finally succumbed to lockdown fever and been sent firmly round the twist)?

Well, Make Me A Plan HQ is also the birthplace of the Healthy Habits approach to making positive, incremental changes to your life routines, be it personal or professional. We believe in challenging the status quo and interrogating your current habits (as a critical friend, of course).

We believe that the way things are is not the way things have to be and improving humans should ask themselves “does what I do as habit make sense and make me happy?”

So what does this have to do with alarm, Anna? (Editor’s note: we philosophers have an inherent right to take the scenic route to the point, harrumph).

Well, when the Prime Minister’s voice echoed the hitherto unknown words that plunged us into lockdown that fateful Friday afternoon in March, like many pseud-based workers I didn’t set my alarm the following day. Or indeed any of the days in the following week. Or the following month. I became re-acquainted with circadian rhythms and waking up when I’d had enough sleep and going to bed when I felt tired.

Sounds absolutely obvious, but how many of you actually do this?

As the 5 month mark rolls around, I’m now viewing my alarm-absent life a bit like those cool kids view their Snapchat chain. I’ve never gone this long without setting an alarm in my entire adult life (in fact, probably not since I was an infant). 

So, the competitive part of me knows that this whatever record is set will probably never be surpassed and thus is even more amped to make this chain remain intact and extending (after all, the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself, in the inimitable words of Baz Luhrmann).

The wellbeing professional and quizzical soul in me is rather enamoured with the idea of structuring activities for the sections of the day when I know for sure I’ll be awake, fresh and most motivated. After all, I pretty much always wake up somewhere between 5am and 730am, and I know that my body likes to sleep between 8 and 9 hours a night, so it’s not difficult to work out.

The Angsty Anna in me, conditioned from years of conformity, still occasionally boggles her brain about whether it wouldn’t be just eminently more sensible to get back into a routine and start having fixed bedtimes and alarm clocks all over again.

But for now, since I doubt that pandemic life alarm clocks yield quite the same start to what are quite different days and times as their pre-pandemic counterparts, I’m going to keep my chain growing.

I’d love to hear about your habits, healthy or otherwise in the comments or via direct message.

Next fortnight, I’ll be musing On Screens. Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this topic you’d like me to write about.

In the meantime,

Happy Planning