Today, I set my alarm, woke up early (though - admittedly - not without hitting snooze a couple of times), and started my day. I went to the gym, I made some tea and had some breakfast, checked my kombucha babies and avocado plants that I started, and did some dishes. I went to the gym and walked for 20 minutes to work on my hip flexor injury that has been acting up again recently, and then did a quick 10 minutes of yoga to stretch and recentre. I showered and tidied up my room, and made more tea for my 'commute' to work. I piled my piles of 'things-to-do' in daily piles, based on what I could feasibly accomplish, and I made a phone call that I've been putting off forever. When I left for work (earlier than normal), I felt less rushed and more accomplished than most (all) mornings. When I was rushed to cross the street by the flashing red hand, I stopped, instead of running across the street. When I was slowed behind an older man walking with a cane down the stairs at the skytrain station, instead of switching 'lanes' I just walked at his pace (having small glimpses of what people felt like when walking behind me when I was with cane). I arrived at work with 15 minutes to spare, and feeling like I could breathe.
i told myself a couple of weeks ago, that i owed it to my overworked, overstressed and exhausted mind, that even though i love to sleep in, i needed some time in the mornings to get my day (and life) figured out. and it's worked. while i detest my resolution in the moments when my alarm first (and second, and third and fourth) goes off, it's the moments when i'm up, and stretching and downward dogging, or in the moments when i'm having my first tea of the day NOT FROM A TRAVEL MUG, or when i'm doing morning yoga, and the sun is shining in on me (literally - i thought that was a funny joke, or exaggeration when people talked about this happening) - it's in those moments that i know it's all worth it.
i'd read lots about waking up early, and how the most successful entrepreneurs do it.... but to be honest, that wasn't it. it wasn't the success, or the inspirational promises of happiness that did it. it was the moments of running to the bus, splashing tea (in a travel mug) all over my jacket sleeve. it was the moments of staying up on my computer until midnight, and wishing i was in bed finishing work while everyone else in the world had finished their day. it was the bags under my eyes, and the inability to maximize on my time that was presented to me before work days that didn't begin until noon. all that time! just wasted.
and so it started. slowly. 15 minute increments at a time. 15 minutes one week, another 15 minutes the next. and lo and behold, i - the person who can sleep until 2pm on a weekday - was getting up between 8 and 8:30 every morning. by choice.
and so it started. slowly. 15 minute increments at a time. 15 minutes one week, another 15 minutes the next. and lo and behold, i - the person who can sleep until 2pm on a weekday - was getting up between 8 and 8:30 every morning. by choice.
small moments of happiness. i'm learning to embrace them - especially the ones that come as a result of a change that i've had to intentionally move forward with. giving myself thanks for time that seems to have appeared out of nowhere.