An early morning in Washington DC, my home now.
It's finally happened! I never thought it would, but it has and against my better wishes. Since the last couple of weeks, I have started waking up daily, very early in the morning like 5:30 a.m.or even slightly earlier and I feel good!. This is no mean feat because I am the proverbial night owl. I think the nagging of all my early bird friends and family has finally seeped into my subconscious - like an irrational guilt. A couple of my well-meaning friends have regularly suggested, rather pushed me to land up at the gym when it opens at 6.00 am and from thereon proceed to work. In fairness, this was in response to my constant whining that I am unable to find time and energy for exercise at the end of a long day.
Uncle Sam' Perks
A couple of my friends even start their day at ungodly hours like 4:30 am because they work for Uncle Sam and have the luxury of finishing their work day by 3.30 p.m. or so. I don’t have any such incentive or option. It is not feasible in my job as a policy analyst in a non-profit where I have to perform almost daily outreach to various stakeholders in the industry that I monitor. Also, we have meetings and conference calls going late into the afternoon to accommodate folks on the West Coast.
Childhood Memories
The joys of early rising are not new to me. My father, a lawyer, was an early riser. He would come back after an exhausting day at the Courts and would head to bed no later than 8.30 pm. I remember as a child our mom hushing us because dad would get up as early as 4:00 a.m and then work on his legal briefs to prepare his cases. It was very comforting to hear sounds of the tea kettle being put on and see the light from his lamp in his study percolating under my nearby bedroom door. You see, I am a light sleeper so noticing half-asleep these signs of life stirring in an otherwise silent household made me feel very secure before I went back to sleep.
An early morning in my home away from home, New Delhi - venue is the majestic India Gate.
Messed up Body Clock
Till recently and only under duress, the earliest I have been able to get up has been 6.30 am so as to reach work by 9:00 a.m. I have an hour’s commute door to door and a basset hound that I need to walk for half an hour or so before I leave. Over the years, I have programmed my body clock such that I sleep very late on weeknights like 11:00 p.m. or so and forget weekends!!! I am up way past midnight into the wee hours. It is a standing joke among my friends that they had better not call me on a weekend before 10:00 a.m and even then they are not sure that I won’t snarl at them. The handful of early morning weekend jaunts (meaning 8:00 am or so) I have been involved in, I have been dragged kicking and screaming and I am NOT kidding here...
Early Rising is Now MY Cup of Tea!
But now I have to admit, getting up early since the last couple of weeks or so has decreased my stress level as I am able to get a lot out of the way on weekdays without my customary breathless scrambling around-plus I often include an early morning run. On the weekends, I have the anticipation of my afternoon nap after my errands and gym and before any evening plans. It is like going through a not very exciting meal in order to enjoy your dessert. Now that is a window of time that is off-limits to everyone.
So I have to admit, I have started loving my morning quiet and a cup of tea that I now enjoy instead of drinking it clumsily on my way to the Metro scalding myself every now and then. Humor aside, I am a convert, though still not to the point of getting up before 5.00 a.m. Also, I am not advertising this new fad (hope it becomes a part of me but its too early to tell) too much as I have no desire to be go overboard with any near-dawn adventures that my overly-zealous morning friends may come up with. Let's be real here. Progress is slow but sure and now I have to work on adjusting the body clock to hit the sack early. So far that has not been fun because I may go to bed early, but sleep evades me till 11:00 p.m. or so. But I am working at it doggedly...
Cheers!
8 comments:
Welcome to the club. :) I leaving work at 3:30 is such a luxury then I guess you must also believe that arriving there at 6:00 AM is a luxury.
Hey, I've known the Ben Franklin secret for years. . ."early to bed and early to rise". . . It's true. Starting your day early, with a cup of coffee/tea, quiet time, a little prayer and meditation, stillness, calmness before the big explosion of the day. . .what a wonderful way to start the day! But I find it hard to believe that a night owl can turn into a morning dove. . .we'll see. . . Give us a progress report in about a month. . . . .
So true anonymous. I have a coworker who shows up at 9:00 AM the latest a person is allowed to checkin. She barely makes. Two weeks ago she decided to arrive between 7:30 and 8:00 AM.
It lasted two weeks.:)
Just you wait - I can never resist a challenge. Once I can work on the going to bed early part- I will be even changing my work hours to the extent that it is practical from a professional angle...
Reading this has brought Patel Nagar's memories back into my mind.I am a deep sleeper and sometimes not even drum beats can disturb my sleep (I am so lucky),but I could sometimes get up when Papa used to make tea at around 4O'clock, it was really inspirational to see him working on the legal cases early in the morning. I wish I could get up even at 6:30.I am getting inspiration from you now and going to try, may be from Monday! anju
Hmm, cyclingred, I think we need to target a weekday, in about 2-3 weeks, in which one of us agrees to call rbk at, say, about 6 a.m. to see if she answers in less than five rings. Then we'll know. . . .
It's great that you're waking up early! But hopefully, you won't become my Mom and start going to bed too early : )
~Pooja
For a proverbial night owl getting up in the wee hours of morning can be a daunting challenge! But if you read more of Deepak Chopra (by the way we are his fans!)and start your early morning chores with a prayer and chanting of "mantras" with unfailing regularity this indeed will become a habit!
Give it a try!
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