time shift
day 1/15 of 5 AM challenge
My partner intends to keep doing new things this year. One concrete way he wants to do new things and continue them at least for a while is with ‘15-day challenges’. He successfully completed a social media detox and it made him feel better, so he is still riding the new year high of new resolutions. And he was in search of the next one.
One thing I have made progress on since last year is to have some sort of a morning routine. You know, drink water, journal, be mindful and all that good stuff. Timing of each of the rituals is one thing I still haven’t figured out well but it is still an upward slope. My evening routines on the other hand have been a constant source of disappointment. The contentment I derive by having established a morning routine is negated by the dread of me being unable to sustain any attempts of an evening routine. I am just to drained to do anything meaningful in the evening. Even though I have had this realization for some time now, I just kept at it only to disappoint myself bit by bit.
Till few days ago, when by a random trigger of YouTube video and my partner’s interest in an early morning challenge, I was like:
I found the perfect solution, hiding in plain sight all this while.
Maybe…I am…a morning person?!?
My relatively successful attempt of having a morning routine should be utilized even better. Why not shift these evening hours to the….drum roll…..early morning!
Here we are, Day 1 of the 5 AM challenge.
Day 1 has been pretty eventful. I instantly got up the moment the two abhorrently sounding alarms went off at 5 AM, blasting through our walls into our neighbours ears even, I am sure. Morning Motivation was at peak.
After 17 minutes of wake up time, slowly but surely Partner went in the last room with his Yoga mat. I sat down sipping hot water with my journal in my hands.
From the tiny YouTube research we did one day before it turns only setting a wakeup time goal isn’t enough. You must have pre-decided project(s) to do. Otherwise the 3rd or 4th day the motivation dries out if you have nothing to actually look forward to. So that was my first task for today. To figure a routine.
The YouTube people had also said the first thing should be staring at the Sun. I asked Alexa when will that happen today - 8:16 she said. So for the next 3 hours all the house lights must be at full blast.
Day 1 looked something like this ~
Till 5:45 I freshened up, made the bed, drank some water and finished journaling (which I am referring for writing this ;) ). Then till 6:35 I moved to Yoga and meditation. It felt so wonderful doing Yoga after so long, I had forgotten this blissful feeling. Why did I even stop? Then for the next 30 minutes went over some material on energy markets, coz why not. And for the next half an hour, I finally managed to restart my German practice. It was a pretty low key one and I mainly read story books, but I am glad I re-started the journey.
By then it was 8 already. Then I showered, helped make breakfast, and then we enjoyed our breakfast in peace on a Monday till 8:45.
Then we of course started work excitedly, which went on till 6:15 PM. We managed to go out for a walk and get some milk from the nearby grocery. Till the walk I was surprised to find myself hardly tired and still riding the adrenaline wave of the day.
We came back at 7 PM, cooked dinner at 7:30, ate at 8:30. What a feat! Adrenaline is still flowing.
Only 30 minutes into Back to the Future II we finally started feeling…sleepy…at 9 PM. Btw, Back to the Future first movie — what a fun ride! Don’t know why had I slept on this classic. I really felt it would be one of those typical, overrated, cheesy movies. Nope, it is all fun everywhere.
For an 11 PM sleeper, I felt a little weird and embarrassing if I am being honest. But also the last time I had woken up at 5 was for catching a flight last year. So it’s not a regular thing. But we do intend on making it, at least for the next 15 days.
Overall I feel the motivation of the first day made things quite exciting. We weren’t tired as much and really got so much done. It felt like such a long day, as we had lived through the day for so long, without getting proportionately tired.
I am writing this at 5:40 of Day 2. Happy to confirm that Day 2 has begun with equal fervor. In fact I feel more rested ( we finally went to sleep at 10 PM haha). So spirits are still running high. The changes are to be seen. Also to be seen is the last hour of Back to the Future II!
Additional recco: I recently stumbled upon this channel @makariespe and really enjoy her videos. Really tempted to do something like she did here:
Fantastic! Looks like you are on to something here. Will wait to read more!