Diary of an early riser: 21/09/21

Just over a week ago, I questioned my body clock for going off at 4am on my days off (from work). Though I wanted that extra hour of sleep, I was still pleased to have hacked the early morning goals, successful entrepreneurs, CEO’s spoke or wrote about. They would share their breakfast, workout and check email routines before 8am, conquering the day while the sleeping majority had hours to go before catching up. Leaving the tossing and turning behind I accepted the 5am club trend, like any poet of the night would. I cannot recall if anything was preying on my sleeping mind, but I will say my eyebags had some strength training to do. 

7am. Today, after all the talk about puffy eyes, the narratives had changed. My body clock didn’t go off at the unthinkable time that I had gotten used to. Instead dormant me, relied on my phone alarm to set me up for the abrupt it’s-too-early-it’s-still-dark-outside awakening, twice. My tired self would have continued sleeping for a while longer, maybe minutes, maybe hours, but life wasn’t going to wait for the 5th snooze to go off. Nevertheless, while the rest of the street dozed away, my neighbour’s baby (whose cries I could hear through the panes of a thick wall) and I were awake. Okay, make that three, but one of us was awoken by an alarm and was no longer in PJs. Already dressed in my work attire, I was almost ready to leave. As the birds outside sang their little hearts out, I tiptoed around the house, over carpeted flooring, doing things in slow motion not wanting to make any noise.

I Googled “awake at 4am” to see how prevalent this matter was and how many others had their sleep invaded by a 4am wake-up call. The result was plenty. It was like asking “who’s awake?” on Instagram and receiving tons of “me” messages back within seconds. Each site had mixed opinions on the subject, some saw it as a benefit while others called it an issue. For me It’s not fair to blame this all on anxiety, as it was never felt the moment I would wake up and instead I’d be saying to myself “oh no, not (oops I did it) again”. Being a Londoner I can’t accuse the street lights for beaming through heavy curtains or point a finger at the birds for singing their best lines early in the morning. I’m used to sleeping through faint light and constant street noise.

Luckily for me, I’m not a night owl, I typically fall asleep by 10pm, so I am fully rested. Though 6am is my ideal waking time, it’s nice to know what brings on the early rises.