wake up at 5 am

Went to bed at 11:30pm and woke up at 5! It’s 7:30 and my son just got out of bed after I got done doing yoga, meditating, writing in my journal, and having breakfast. Now I can relax and go about my day, knowing that I nurtured my spirit today.

I’m on day 3 on this and intend to continue daily for a month. I was up 4:45, earlier than the last couple of days. It’s 5:30am, and I feel tired, but energized at the same time! I still have a couple of hours until my son wakes up, so I can do my meditation, yoga, and write in my journal!

Well I’ve had mixed results so far. The first week after I posted this I was able to do about 4 or 5 days getting up at 5AM, but then I had to go to India for work so that screwed up my internal clock. I was able to get up naturally at 4AM in India the first couple of days, but then I quickly went the other direction and wasn’t able to get up until 7AM. Then I came back and I think all of that time on the plane made me sick so for a few days I slept in, I think that was ok for recovery time – but for the past 5 days I wasn’t getting up until about 7AM. I think this was partly due to recovery but partly laziness. Well now I’ve got to get back on the horse.

I think one of the problems with 43Things is that it’s easy for me to avoid accountability because all I have to do is just avoid logging on the site.

I have been trying to do this for years with mixed results. As Brian Griffin says, “Hey if you don’t like it, go on the internet and complain.” So that’s why I’m here – I haven’t been able to get up at 500AM consistently over a long period of time. I live in a northern area, so it’s easier in May/June when the sun is already up at 5AM, but the opposite is true in Winter. I’m looking to work for a more permanent habit to form and I suspect that this site may help because it’s making me publicly accountable in a sense, as long as I am honest about what I do. So far this year I have been able to get up at 5AM 9 times, but inconsistently. I have tended to give up after Monday/Tuesday. I also travel for work so the time zone thing mixes me up a bit.

So, I have to figure out how to discipline my mind to be able to get up at 5AM even if I just came from the other side of the world, or perhaps just a time zone away. This will be a real challenge and I appreciate your support.

I am going to wake up at 5A.M. starting tomorrow morning. I will do this every day for 30 days. Sometimes, even when I am not hung over from having one too many drinks from the night before, I would wake up at lunch. I love being asleep. I love being awake. I can’t say which is more important of those two states. Sometimes I believe I have more freedom in my dreams than in reality. What is freedom? Is it the freedom to be ambiguous? Am I free even when my mind is absent while my body lives the days in perpetual repetition of habits and routines? Between the unconscious habits that my body commits without my approval or the times when I actually feel free from restrictions, open to infinite possibilities, otherwise known as being present, I don’t know which consists of the majority. I would rather be in a dream than be imprisoned in an unconscious, but awake body. Well, the decision of whether to stay asleep forever is not an option until my physical body dies of course. Therefore, I am stuck with being awake partially. So. What is my conclusion? If I am to be forced to stay awake, I would rather stay awake as much as I can in order to TRY to be conscious as much of my awake sate as possible. I mean being fully conscious and awake is something special. Perhaps even better than a dream. I might smash a couple alarm clocks in my pursuit of this goal. Who gives. It’ll be fun.

5:00 is the magic hour

Today is Monday. I slept until 10:30 AM this morning. I guess it’s a matter of motivation. I want to start waking up at 5 AM.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. I will wake up at 8:00 AM
Wednesday- 7:30 AM
Thursday- Sun. 7:00 AM

Monday – Sun. – 5:00 AM

I can do this…

I am doing great with this goal and I should mark it as done. I think I am going to have a new goal “wake up at 4.30 am. I have been getting up at 4.30 and 4.15 am for 2 days and I have no problem with that.

My day starts 1.5 hour earlier. That’s why I have to get up at 4.30 am. I don’t want to rush doing things in the morning as it freaks me out. I don’t like opening my shop late too.

So if I get up at 4.30 am, I have 3 hours to write my morning page, read book, detox, run, prepare breakfast, go to the market and do the laundry.

I woke up before the alarm clock again. I had more time to prepare my day. It was an eventful morning. After getting up and writing diary, I fixed the water tap and connect hose of the watching maching to the tap and did the laundry. Then I ran on the treadmill for 3 kms. Washed the toilet. Went to the market to buy food. Hanged the clothes. Took a shower and opened my shop at 7.40 am (10 mins late)

After moving and changing open time, I think I have to get up at 4.30 am to have more time in the morning before opening the shop. I work from 7.30 am – 9 pm.

Monday morning: 5.00 am. a little bit hard to get up but not so hard.

Tuesday morning : 4.30 am. I woke up before the clock alarmed. I just felt enough sleep so I got up, opened the back window, lit the scented candles and then sat writing journal until 6 am.