One of the best things I could have ever done for myself, was choose to wake up at 4:30am.
Now, before you write me off as crazy, HEAR ME OUT.
Chasing Sunrise is an amazing crew of like-minded people who are getting out (literally climbing mountains) and getting after what they want in life (goal-crushing). They have rubbed off on hundreds of people and started this really cool challenge called 21 DAMN EARLY DAYS. Over 500 people from across the globe (including myself) committed to this challenge that consisted of waking up at 4:30am, every weekday morning in January, in effort to carve out some time for working on your own personal goals. If you didn't have some kind of real motivation, it probably wasn't going to work out very well for you. This challenge was 100% passion-fuelled and no one can convince you to have motivation at 4:30am except yourself. The early morning is a very interesting time of day, because no one expects anything of you and it's actually incredibly peaceful. A sort of magical time where it can feel like the world around you is asleep.
Sleep is sacred, without a doubt. So one of the great things that the Chasing Sunrise guys outlined, was best practices for developing night time routines to help us wind down in time for a good night's rest. Now, having said that, it was never THAT easy to just hunker down into your night time routine just because it was 7pm. Noooo, definitely not. If you're anything like me, you enjoy living life to the fullest outside of your 9-5 job, and that meant that the social, evening Kristen had to make a lot of sacrifices.
But my motivation to do this challenge, was a move of desperation - to force myself out of the depression I had found myself in for the last few months. I was getting well over 9 hours of sleep (oversleeping at its finest), and I was just barely rolling out of bed in time to minimally get ready for work. It was horrible and it's crazy how much your day becomes about negativity and resentment when you start it that way.
But the reason for wanting to get up early could have been anything -- training for a marathon, creating your very own website (!!!), setting a budget, getting to hot yoga before work, getting to the gym, getting to the beach for a chilly morning stroll or just getting up and ENJOYING your coffee. (When was the last time you drank coffee without multitasking or feeling like if you didn't get that cup of coffee STAT, you were gonna pass out?!)
This experience was challenging, but for me, this challenge was my saving grace. This was a huge step out of my comfort zone and this was the big move that I had promised myself I would make, to try to battle my anxiety & depression. Anything that could help me with that, was my #1 priority. I was SO lucky to have my super supportive boyfriend also commit to the early mornings with me, because I'm telling you, having someone else there for accountability was extremely helpful. We got to spend some real quality time together during some of our damn early days. And other days, we just did our own things, but knowing that you're bettering your own self, together, it is really cool. I spent some of my alone time contemplating, meditating, doing hot yoga and watching the news (you know, news = adulting).
But a LOT of my early morning time was spent journaling. I have always liked keeping a journal, but I have felt as though lately, my life has been "too crazy" to keep track in my mind, let alone on paper. My best friend actually really taught me the importance of journaling. Recognizing how you are feeling in any given moment, is extremely important.
So, journalling has been a HUGE part of my anxiety battle and throughout my experience, I have shared some of my own thoughts and learnings in-person & over social media with friends, acquaintances and strangers, and received really positive feedback. SO, I figured I might as well start sharing online for the whole (potential) world to see.
21 DAMN EARLY DAYS quickly became something the whole group knew they wanted to continue doing throughout February, so here we are, still getting after life in the wee early morning.
This was one of the best things I could have done for myself.
“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.”
