Firmly in the #5amwritersclub Camp

My FitBit likes to give me little “tips” in the app. For example, a banner will show up that says “Did you know that drinking x amount of water per day…” etc.

Recently, the message was: “A person who goes to bed late and wakes up late is a night owl. A person who goes to bed early and wakes up early is a lark. Based on your sleep history, you are a lark.”

I would concur with that assessment. My wake-up time today was 4:05 am. And I’ve grown to love it.

Following my body’s natural rhythm

I have always been a morning person, but over the past few weeks I have become an “extreme morning” person. I fall asleep sometime before 8:30 pm and wake up naturally around 4:00–4:30 am.

I’m not even sure exactly how it happened. I think one night I was exhausted and fell asleep early, resulting in an early wake-up the next morning. Because of that, I was exhausted again that evening… it turned into a cycle.

In the past, I would have continued to lie in bed, thinking 4:00 am was too early, and try to fall back asleep.

But that one morning when I woke up really early, I was so wide awake that I sat down at my computer. Before I knew it, I had written 1000 words. My brain was intensely alert and the words flowed easily.

Crafting a morning routine

I’ve learned to cherish that morning time. No one else in this house wakes up until close to 7:00 am. During those hours of silence, I do the following:

• Drink my coffee
• Write in my journal
• Read something (usually a poem or two)
• Plan out my day
• Check out #5amwritersclub on Twitter
• Write at least 1000 words

I love it. I love feeling productive. I don’t care that my bedtime now resembles that of an elementary-school child. My brain is mush by that point anyway.

You can read more about career pivots and the future of work on my Substack.