Day 17

As I have experienced before, one of the best outcomes of sleeping early is getting up early fully refreshed and not feeling like a zombie for hours after waking up. Today I had to wake up at 5 am since I had a train to catch at 6-45 am to return to university. Usually I sleep on my way back but today I was wide awake. The journey was quite enjoyable. The weather was cool and the wind coming through the train window felt very nice. While I was not watching the vast greenery outside, I did some journaling. Met a few babies on the train and had very entertaining one-sided conversations with them, much to the delight of their proud mothers. I felt very tired post-lunch and had to take a power nap for about an hour, but overall I felt quite good throughout the day.

Day 16

Another day, another slay. Yesterday I came to my parents’ and went to bed a little late after doing lots of catching up. However, I got up at my usual time and spent a relaxed, lazy Sunday at home. I meant to get some writing done but didn’t feel like sitting at the computer. Back to my usual routine tomorrow.

Day 15

Is it a good thing or a bad thing to have a non-happening day where things go as expected so that there is not much to write about? I think it’s good. I am able to continue the routine that I want myself to stick to. I get to sleep for 8 hours and wake up refreshed. I get to get a lot of stuff done in the morning and as a result can enjoy some relaxed moments of reading before bed. The only downside is not having much material to write a blog post – which I’m going to rectify by writing on other topics.

Day 14

I am finding it a lot easier to wake up early than to go to bed early. Planning my morning schedule on the previous night helps me to motivate myself to wake up early. I have to come up with something similar to motivate myself to go to sleep early. As a matter of fact I love to sleep; it’s just that I love to read fiction more. Wish the thought of getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep every day were motivating enough.

Anyway, so far so good. At least I am consistently waking up at 7-15 am. I will also develop the habit of going to bed within 11-30 pm within the remaining 14 days of the challenge.

Day 13

Waking up early in the morning is much less of a problem compared to earlier. However, I still need to work on going to bed at 11 pm. I am sticking to no screen before bed. Last night however I felt like reading The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales (papaerback version) while sipping a cup of green tea. I was finally able to tear myself away from the book at 1-15 am and went to bed at 1-30 am. I fell asleep immediately, had a good night’s rest and woke up with my alarm at 7-15 am.

While I do consider reading the book as time well spent and also think that a cheat once in a while is fine, I have to be careful not to slip in my old habit of drinking tea and reading e-books late at night. My life experience says that it is easier to develop or fall back to an unhealthy habit than to develop a healthy one.

I had been wanting to try guided meditation for some time. Recently I came across a meditation video from Noah Elkrief. Today before doing my daily yoga routine I listened to it and found it quite soothing and relaxing. A nice and refreshing way to start one’s day

Day 12

The best thing about waking up early is that you get tired and thus have to go to bed even though your lizard brain urges you to stay awake. Last night I hit the sack around 1-15 am and immediately fell asleep. I woke up once in very early morning due to feeling cold. I wrapped myself in a sheet and fell asleep before I could stop marvelling over having to wrap myself up in late March.

I missed my 7-15 am alarm but woke up by myself around 8 am. Waking up early proves to be good in so many ways. I do my workout and meditation and get to go to lab in time, where I feel energized and productive. I’m loving my new routine and I’m going to stick to it.

Day 11

Back on track! Last Night I went to bed around 12-30 am but could not go to sleep for quite some time. Mindful meditation did not help. My mind was scattered all over the place (probably due to anxiety related to a presentation I was supposed to give today – it got postponed to next week) and would not be focused. Finally I started thinking plots of Harry Potter fanfiction. That did the trick.

I woke up with the alarm at 7-30, did yoga and got some academic reading done before leaving for my lab. The weather has gotten quite warm here. It feels great to have a cold shower after doing yoga.

My cats seem worried about me. They stare at me while I do yoga with very concerned looks on their faces. They are also mad for not being allowed to use the yoga mat as a scratch pad.

During my daily media consumption I watched this video about utilizing your morning in terms of personal finance. Not much of it is applicable in my current situation, but I liked the advises and hence sharing it.


Day 10

Setback struck again. I was listening to a playlist of self-improvement techniques on Youtube while journaling. I lost track of time and finally went to bed around 2 am. I missed my 7-30 am alarm (at least that means I had a deep sleep) and woke up in a panic just after 10 am. I was already late for work so I had to skip my morning routine of yoga and meditation.

Well played, old night-owl self. You got this one up on me. I’m not giving up though. I’m gonna emerge victorious at the end of the challenge.

Day 9

Last night I went to bed a few minutes after midnight and set alarm for 7-30 am. However, I could not fall asleep for a long long time. Bad memories decided to pay me a long overdue visit. Past hurts and resentments swarmed around my mind and kept stinging the poor thing. Initially I tried doing mindfulness meditation to stay in the present but wasn’t able to get rid of the unpleasantness. So I decided to cry it out.

Recently I read the book “How to Fix a Broken Heart” by clinical psychologist Dr. Guy Winch. In this book he discusses two specific kinds of heartbreaks that are considered somewhat trivial in general but are no less painful that so-called serious heartbreaks – loss of romantic love not within marriage and loss of a beloved pet. In the book Dr. Winch has discussed in details, among other things, the importance of practicing self-compassion. One of the techniques of being compassionate to one’s own self, he says, is to imagine a dear friend in a similar situation as yours and treat yourself the way you would treat that friend. I gave myself a hug and listened to myself as I vented out throughout tears. That felt therapeutic and I fell asleep after some time.

I woke up around 7-15 am, refreshed, before the alarm rang. I did my morning routine of yoga and meditation. A bright, sunny and uncomfortably hot Sunday welcomed me as I went outside.

Day 8

Day 8 was another small success just like day 7. Cheesy as it may sound, making an appointment with myself for doing yoga in the morning has now worked for two days in a row.

Last night I got an idea for a short story. I decided to write it instead of putting it off for the next day lest I would forget the details. I wrote for about an hour and finished the story. I finished my pre-bedtime routine and slept within 2 am.

I was able to wake up easily to my 8 am alarm. I practiced yoga for about an hour but again dozed of at the end of the routine while relaxing in Shavasana. After waking up I did not feel like meditating, so I postponed it for later in the day.

I am noticing myself to be more mindful and more present compared to earlier throughout the day. I am often able to catch my inner monologue saying shit and then gently, non-judgmentally change it. I am also realizing certain trains of uneasy thoughts in my mind. I think those will come out clearly during freestyle journaling.

Raising my 3rd (and last) cup of Darjeeling tea to a better tomorrow.