I got up at 4:20 today; 5:20 the day prior; about 4:30 the day before that, and around 5AM prior. You get the idea. But I don’t even desire to wake up before 5am. Or do I?
Over the last eight months, 5-5:30AM risings had become the norm. Though I’ve rarely challenged the 5AM mark. Not nearly as often as the past month. It doesn’t help that daylight savings time had been outvoted in Brazil. To the contrary, the phenomenon would shift an hour ahead.
Is this a problem? Not for the most part. I get to observe the sunrise from the jaw-dropping view in my apartment shortly before 5AM.
I’m also more eager and consistent with meditation at the early hour. Food doesn’t even enter the realm of concern, not with the daily 18-hr (or more) intermittent fast. Historically, this was my only consideration over waking up too early, that fear (and fragility) of waiting for breakfast (which would feel just plain odd before 6AM). That’s all long been eradicated.
On the flip side, I’ve struggled to stay awake until even 21:30, some days battling exhaustion as early as 20:00. Is this really a concern? No. It limits certain social opportunities, though not the ones I sincerely wish to pursue. Plenty of happenings earlier take place.
Most ingrained, long-lasting habits are a product of our deeper consciousness. They reflect that that we really desire to do. Forced discipline works short-term. But I don’t believe it to be sustainable unless you wire the habit into your residual personality.
And do I desire to be up at 4:30AM? What does the deeper consciousness indicate? I do. Provided I feel purpose and have an activity to look forward to. In other words, fuck yes.
Had immediate direction been wanting, I would likely expect a gradual shift to 6-6:30AM. Any later, and it feels unlike myself.
Here in the favella, the 4-5AM period might be the unique of relative silence. Prior, and some audible debauchery looms nearby. Approaching 5AM roosters begin to chant. Commercial activity raises the curtains shortly after.
For as long as I recall, I’ve considered superheroes that contingent of night time risers. I used to not even recognize the period as morning. It unmistakeably constituted that time frame when a normal person should be dead asleep. Only a Jedi master possessed the fortitude to challenge the status quo.
That’s what I’ve now become. Though I don’t feel the Jedi master. It feels perfectly natural to rise at this hour. Nothing too challenging. When I hear of a 7AM or after wake-up (all conflated as something late), the immediate thought, in vernacular tongue, screams wow.
An individual can mold into something entirely different: assimilate a new set of habits and make that an integral, irreplaceable part of the underlying self.
What defines us? That which we do; not that thing we did prior, not what we anticipate in some future, not our thoughts, not our anxieties.
Questions, comments? Connect.