by Patti
For the past two weeks, I have been waking at 5:45 am.
If you know me at all, you know that a 5:45 wake-up time is considered against the law in my own personal Book of Laws, and that the ONLY reason to wake up at 5:45 am is a) to nurse a baby; b) to run from the house screaming because it’s on fire; c) to go the emergency room because you or somebody you love might be dying; d) to catch a flight to somewhere way better than where you currently are.
That’s it. No other reason. And believe me, in my opinion, some of those reasons are questionable. That’s how anti-getting-up-before-8 AM I am.
So, why am I violating my own personal laws? Because I have to. I am getting up early for work because my hours have changed.
As the first day of my early rise approached, I actually felt kind of panicky: Would I be able to do it? Would I fall back to sleep? Would I feel sick with exhaustion all day? Would I resent the others in my house who got to sleep another 2 hours while I silently and tiredly blinked my way into the day? Would I have to set 9 alarm clocks to ensure that I actually wake up?
But the first day happened and surprisingly it wasn’t so bad. Not at all, even. It was kind of nice to hit the road before so many others. I felt like I was let in on a little secret about seizing the day: SO MUCH CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU GET OUT OF BED. Who knew? I felt like the other drivers on the road and I were part of a brotherhood, of sorts; we all kind of nodded at one another at red lights and stop signs, “You, too?” they seemed to ask. “Yes,” I responded with my (bleary) eyes. We all knew that it had still been dark outside when we got out of bed, and that, despite the darkness, it was still not a bad idea to get out of that bed anyway, because it gave the day ample opportunity to let amazing things happen.
Those of you who have always torn out of bed at 5 AM are probably reading this and thinking me nuts. Well, let me say this: I am nuts, so you’re right there. You may also be thinking, “DUH.” Because, yeah, DUH, when you get up earlier and do earlier, results happen earlier. It’s common math. But you have to truly know me to know that for me to be okay with this nonsense is, indeed, a miracle.
I’ll admit, I’m tired. My body is still fighting this lifestyle. After all, I grew up in the totally opposite direction, I married a man who also grew up in the totally opposite direction, and I have continued to live my life in the totally opposite direction. It feels slightly inauthentic for me to be breathing in the dawn air when I have, my entire life, breathed in the midnight moon instead. Then again, when it’s 9 AM and you have already ticked 15 things of your “to-do” list, it’s a whole new kind of exhilaration – one that makes waking up before the sun kind of worth it.
We’ll see; I’m still very new at this whole thing, and I may very well just be in the honeymoon stage with the Crack-of-Dawn. Maybe soon the Crack-of-Dawn will start getting on my nerves – that Crack of Dawn with its not-quite bright sky and its silent birds and its frosty grass.
Or, maybe not.
Either way, life is pretty dynamic, isn’t it?
