Wake Up

By Ramese Long

Bzzz….Bzzz….Bzzz!

An alarm clock is heard in the background. Nicole, a single mother of two slowly rolls over and hits the snooze button. Another nine minutes of sleep is coming her way. What feels like just 30 seconds later, she has no choice but to wake up. Her to-do list for the day is like any other day. Wake up, get her two kids ready for school, go to work, pick up the kids, come home, cook dinner and go to bed; Another day completed. She collapses on the bed and drifts off to sleep.

Bzzz…Bzzz…Bzzz! Still groggy, Nicole angrily jumps out of bed and screams for her kids to hurry up. She can’t be late for work today. She’s up for a promotion and today’s presentation is vital. Disheveled, she walks out the house forgetting a key component for her presentation and it’s too late to go home and retrieve it. Surely, the promotion she’s been waiting for will no longer be on the table.

After a horrible day at work she chats with her children about their day at school as she prepares a meal. Dinner is completed and the kids are settled for bed. She then collapses on her bed. But this time she stares at the ceiling replaying her day, thinking about her life and why she’s not fulfilled. Undoubtedly, she loves her children but knows the energy she’s giving off is not who she is and won’t benefit her two greatest joys in life sleeping in the other room. She has to do something different.

Nicole’s best friend and neighbor had been pestering her to join the local boot camp. She would have to wake up earlier than usual but she remembered when she was exercising in the past she felt much better. “Why not?” she asked herself. “I have nothing to lose but some weight,” she chuckled. She makes it through the first class, and through another and another. Soon enough, she’s become quite the regular at boot camp. So much so that when she arrives the entire class applauds as if she’s a rock star. Soon after, it appears as if her entire life has changed simply by choosing to exercise. She wakes up every day with passion. Her relationship with her children has improved tenfold. After her subpar presentation at work she still receives the promotion. In addition, she’s decided to do something for herself and get back on the dating scene after an arduous divorce. She meets a wonderful man who seems to want the same things in life as she does. She’s on cloud nine because it appears as if all of her dreams are coming to fruition and believe it or not, exercise was the impetus. She’s so happy about the possibilities of her life; she can feel her body vigorously shaking with excitement…

Bzzz…Bzzz…Bzzz

“Mommy! Mommy! Wake up!” Nicole’s daughter is standing next to her bed dressed for school. We’re going to be late for school. Come on Mommy, you slept through the alarm again. Remember, you said you can’t be late for work anymore or you won’t get that promotion. Wake up Mommy…wake up!

Don’t snooze. Wake up and do someTHIN!