“If You Want Something . Go Get It. PERIOD.”
Chris gardener, movie: Pursuit of happiness
Breaking an old habit and making a new one is an arduous journey to undertake. If ever I have done anything tough physically…it has been getting into the habit of waking up early. For some waking up early is no big deal. But I belong to the slumber body. I just couldn’t wake up early. Now, don’t get me wrong the good intentions were always there. They were just not enough to get me off the bed.
It’s a herculean task to open those eyelids at 5 or say 6 in the morning. You know, only the eyebrows lift…the eyelids refuse to let go of each other. They feel swollen shut. You are very much still an actor in your dream play. So you are still wading with one leg each in dream and real world. Now, this is the zone you need to cross.If you happen to be snuggled cozily in your blanket in a darkened room with cold wind blowing from the AC, Boy! You are in trouble.
My early days
When someone says walking is all fine , waking up early is the problem. I understand that. Trust me I have been there. I faced this problem for a long time. I had this good intention of starting off on my morning walk for a very long time. However ,it was just not happening because of waking up late.
Every day after waking up late I would berate myself and then promise myself that I will wake up early the next day for sure. Oh! how easy is thy promise to fulfil 24 hr later. I would get charged up that tomorrow is the “THE DAY”. Making a full TO DO list down to the minutes. I would sleep that night all motivated. But alas! the calling from the yonder of a shrieking alarm cannot break you from the embrace of deep sleep.So, I would end up waking up again at my regular time having dutifully switched off even the snooze. Sigh! yet another cycle of self reprimanding and motivating and planning.
Action plans
One day I realized enough is enough, got to get my a***off that bed. So, I come up with the master plan. After consulting google of course. I drank 3 big glasses of water at night before sleeping. Well you get the idea right? By the time my morning alarm rang I had already woken up thrice in the night to use the rest room. Needless to say, I woke up super irritated ready to punch the next person I laid eyes on. So, PLAN 1 failed.
Next, I tried moving the alarm to the next room. Google experts told me so. If you have to wake up and walk to next room to switch it off, you would have crossed the zombie zone. Guess what I narrowly missed getting a black eye from other people in the house. Cause everyone heard it BUT me. Plan 2 fails
Next, I tried sleeping on a bare mat on the floor. You see google was targeting the cozy blanket part. It worked alright but a bit too early. I woke up in the middle of night with so much bodypain that I sleep walked to that cozy blanket and got into an even better sleep than usual. Plan 3 down the drain or sleepy lane shall I say.
Desperate measures
Then I tried my last resort. The most dangerous of the lot. I asked my dad to wake me up. He asked me, Are you sure? He had an amusing look. But I was determined\. Determined enough to put my hand in the lion’s den. Cause you don’t tell your dad something and back out. I had just closed the fire escape. So Yes! dad did wake me up in the morning. Not in a very subtle manner. Loud enough and assertive enough. So, I woke up. You would think I would be excited about finally making it. But hardly. I woke up sullen with dad berating me for being so lazy and how in his childhood waking up late was unheard of. So ya you can say I didn’t use that service again. Plan number 4 a big NO !!
Next I tried mom. You can see I don’t give up easily. She would be more gentle and persuasive. Our last resort is always mother. Period. So, the big day arrived…. exactly at the time it always did. I asked my mom why didn’t you wake me up? Well I tried but you just didn’t move. How many times can i call you? I called you thrice and gave up. I got angry with her. Well you can always try tomorrow she said. There we go ! How do I tell her TOMORROW is the bane of my existence which never gets converted to today. Plan 5 Zilch !!!
Now you can see it was not for want of trying that I Couldn’t wake up.
The Learning curve
Through all these funny and not so funny episodes I realized that its only ME who is losing out on something so precious. Ya! Loads of people have written about advantages of waking up early.All my heroes and heroines. I very much wanted to be part of that league. The morning people’s league that I mentioned in my previous post. You can read it here https://musingsmorningwalker.com/league-of-morning-men/ .
If you have sailed in a similar boat you should know that it’s a process in the making. Making your brain inches by inches day by day tuned to the right frame of mind. By the end of all your episodes your brain would know that you want it badly enough. I am sure there is some study done on this process somewhere. Anyway there does come a morning and trust me on this one. When your eyes would open and your ears will listen to that alarm. Your legs will swing off the bed and you will finally break that adhesive bond to your bed.
THE TRIUMPH
The glorious day arrived for me. I walked slowly to the bathroom washed my face, brushed my teeth. Had a glass of water. Changed to my walking attire. FINALLY tied those sneaky shoe lace that have alluded me for so long. You should have seen the smile on my face that day. It was plastered all through the walk. To a passer by I was smiling for no reason. But I knew it was a moment of personal triumph. I suppose that is how it feels every time we overcome our demons our fears our inadequacies. And it feels damn good.
So for those of you who do want to wake up early and are struggling with it, I would say don’t give up trying.Every single day strengthen up that mind. The war is not over yet. I still find it difficult to wake up on cold mornings. But I know now its only my WILL that needs to be strengthened. “Where there is a will there is a way”.Y Trust me, your BIG DAY WILL COME. Just don’t give up easily. I will leave with words of wise lincoln
“I am slow walker but I never walk back”
abraham lincoln