Snooze Button Addiction

I don't know too many people who can top my inexplicable ability to repeatedly torture myself in the wee hours of the morning. At the peak of my snooze button habit, I would tell myself the night before that I would "definitely wake up" at 6am. In reality, I would wake up at 9:30AM or sometimes even later, while reprogramming the alarm clock in 6-15 minute intervals.

"Reprogramming?" That's right. I don't have a snooze button at all. I disabled it years ago because I recognized my problem. However, I quickly learned that pushing only a few more buttons not only allowed me to snooze once again, but would also allow me to customize how long I snoozed for.

I've tried moving the alarm clock to the other side of the room without luck. I've tried moving the alarm clock to a different room; still no luck. I've tried setting multiple alarms, setting the coffee maker to go off at a given time, but still, to no avail.

It's worth noting that I do not have a problem waking up when people are depending on me to be somewhere. I only exhibit this behavior when I have the option of sleeping late without consequence. I've behaved this way since college, at least, and have become frustrated with myself for not having any free time in the afternoon. Thus, I have found what I think is a path toward breaking my habit.

Throw away the alarm clock. Don't use it. Don't set it. I obviously can't handle the tremendous power of the alarm clock when I have nothing scheduled in the morning. I know other people have this problem as well, so hopefully I'll break through some barriers here.

I have not used my alarm clock all this week. While I woke up later than I would ideally like to wake up, I felt completely rested in the morning. Today, I felt myself drift in and out of sleep slightly before 6am, indicating that I was at an ideal point in my sleep cycle to wake up. I didn't wake up because I decided not to get out of bed, but at least this gives me a glimpse of what it's like to use a natural, biological clock instead of a blaring, disturbing, and obnoxious electronic device.

I will continue without an alarm clock until my sleeping habits improve, except for mornings in which meetings or appointments are scheduled. After all, if the source of my problem is a habit entwined with that cursed device, I must start by eliminating it from the equation.