Tender Mercy

[Linked]

I don't usually use an alarm, they stress me out all night and I can't sleep knowing it is coming. During the school year my kids are up pretty early so they are my alarm, but during the summer everyone sleeps in, and I get to work a little later. I wanted to get to work early today, so I set an alarm last night. Being unable to sleep, I turned the alarm off and hoped for the best. Next thing I know, my 3 year old son is walking in the room and the sun is coming through the window. I grabbed my phone to check the time and it was within 2 minutes of the alarm I had turned off! Tender mercy!

My wife didn't think it was funny when I told her of my tender mercy and asked me not to make fun of it. But it deserves to be made fun of. It is a manipulative method to get us to maintain the worldview the church wants, regardless of whether it is true or not.

[Red Ryder]

I prefer "Praise Jesus!" over tender mercy. Especially if you can mimic the long southern drawl of a Georgia accent.

What's with the alarm anxiety? I typically have the same experience but only when I have to wake up to go to the airport to catch a flight.

[NOMelgänger]

I rotate between favorite songs on my phone as an alarm instead of a jarring tone. Much more pleasant way to wake up. If even that causes you anxiety, so sorry. That sucks.

[Linked]

I hate mornings and have a terrible time waking up, so I decided to let myself wake up more naturally a few years ago. I have a job that allows some flexibility in start time so it hasn't been a problem there. So whenever I use an alarm it is unusual, similar to an early flight scenario, and I think I've conditioned myself to stress out whenever my alarm is on. Seeing the little alarm icon on my phone gets me breathing faster. It's weird.

Before I reduced my alarm usage I used to have Nora Jones' "Come Away with Me" as my alarm and it was a very gradual wake up, that was pretty good. Somewhere in there the song got deleted from my phone and I haven't bothered to get it back on there. Maybe I'll do that and try to retrain myself to be more like everybody else.

ETA - Just updated my alarm tone. Now maybe I can sleep easy...

[No Tof]

Trust your brain.

Give yourself the suggestion of the time to wake up just before going to sleep. I think you will be surprised at how often you will wake up on time.

Works for me.

[SeeNoEvil]

I don't usually use an alarm, they stress me out all night and I can't sleep knowing it is coming. During the school year my kids are up pretty early so they are my alarm, but during the summer everyone sleeps in, and I get to work a little later. I wanted to get to work early today, so I set an alarm last night. Being unable to sleep, I turned the alarm off and hoped for the best. Next thing I know, my 3 year old son is walking in the room and the sun is coming through the window. I grabbed my phone to check the time and it was within 2 minutes of the alarm I had turned off! Tender mercy!

My wife didn't think it was funny when I told her of my tender mercy and asked me not to make fun of it. But it deserves to be made fun of. It is a manipulative method to get us to maintain the worldview the church wants, regardless of whether it is true or not.

In a psychology class at BYUI (it was Ricks when I went so ..... long time ago) we were discussing this very thing. The professor asked the question: "In spite of setting your alarm why do people usually wake up just before it goes off?" The answer was, "because you have to go to the bathroom."...... On the other hand it could be "tender mercies" and your 3 year old was up because he needed to go. Just saying.