Beat the Sun

I know some of you enjoyed the previous post and the "Catholic thing."  Me too. 

And I know I said I'd write more about it, and I will.  But as a fair warning, this is so much less exciting than that post.  Hopefully something a little more meaningful will pop into my brain tomorrow. 

I am far too lazy and tired to search for it now, but I once read a quote from someone famous (one of the founders, maybe) about waking early.  This person got up and out of bed before sunrise every day.  I decided I'd do that, too. 

Now, if you are a completely functional human being with no mental problems, this might mean nothing. 

If you are like me, and are a more... unique person, read on. 

My friends think I am psychotic for waking up around 5am every morning.  Probably rightfully so.  But it's good for me.  When I was younger I'd go to school basically as soon as it opened.  I beat the teachers there half the time.  Being in school was better than being in my house.  When I got to college I still had the habit of getting up early, so I would kind of just get up and read or walk around or I don't know, look at trees until people got up.  I never did anything productive in the AM though.  Just hung around. 

But then, like a million different things went wrong, which pissed me off because I had told myself I went through enough bad crap and that the rest of my life was going to be smooth sailing.  HA.

I basically spent the next couple of years doing nothing other than eating and sleeping, and going to class maybe once a week, tops.  Occasionally I'd read for fun.  I watched The West Wing a lot.  A lot. 

This very accurately describes how I felt all the time.



And then finally I started to get my act together (sorta kinda).  For a while now, I've made it a point to try and get up by 5am every morning.  And when I follow through with it, getting up before the sun works wonders for me.  No joke. 

First of all, watching the day start.  Just think about that.  A whole new day that will never be here again and you get to witness it's arrival.  (If you're being all shkaveetzy right now and saying, "noooo, it started at 12," shush.)  That is pretty cool stuff.  And it's pretty.  Really pretty. 

So pretty, in fact, that all they could come up with as a name for this spot was "Pretty Place."  Those are mountains with clouds all over the place.  What I like to call "Care Bear Huntin' Conditions."

Second, I don't just hang around when I wake up anymore.  On weekdays I go to work and believe me, playing dodge ball or making a craft is like, the best way ever to start a day.  As long as I also have coffee.  On weekends, I go somewhere I'll have to interact with people because really, people are great and I need to stop acting like everyone annoys me and isolating myself.  Beyond that, sometimes I'll read or write, and at least once a day, I go for a walk.  Literally nothing calms me down more than walking around through a nice park.  Well except Percocet, but that's a whole different subject...

So there you have it.  By 6pm I am exhausted, which is good because I have trouble getting to sleep unless I am completely wiped out.  Now, it's pretty much because I want my brain to function and to not slip backwards mental health-wise.  Not that I don't love The West Wing, but that's not what I need to be doing all day, you feel me?  So probably not everyone needs to get up early every day (though I recommend doing it sometimes), and maybe it's not the most practical thing ever, but for now it works.  Without fail, when I get up at 5am and pack my days, I feel way more accomplished and happier at the end of them. 

And that is good.

__
Charlotte