Leaving THE 5 AM Club
In March of 2020 I was hell-bent on self-exploration (I still am). I made a conscious decision to not stay home cleaning out closets but instead decided to get busy clearing out the emotional clutter. I embarked on a goal of completing an advanced teacher training so I could offer more in-depth yoga classes in my community that focused on self-care. It was during this time that I committed to 66 consecutive days of getting up at 5 AM and it was fucking HARD! Every day, without fail, 7 days a week, without exception. That was the deal with this 5 AM Club stuff. The author claimed that through this discipline it would get easier and that I'd be more productive. When I reached day 67, I stopped getting up at 5 AM because honestly, I was exhausted! I am definitely what one would consider a morning person but I am also someone who has learned to honor the natural rhythms of my body. Sometimes I need different things, like more sleep. This 5 AM Club idea carries for me the same problems I see a lot in our culture...this ALL OR NOTHING mentality. This idea that we must always be doing something. If you love getting up at 5 AM and find it beneficial, that's so awesome! If you feel your creativity flows at midnight so you sleep in to get adequate rest, and your schedule allows for that, that's awesome too! I think the more we look inside for answers to what we need, we're more likely to get the answers that will best support our well being. I committed to the 66 days because that was a promise I made to myself, a goal I set but I did not attach strict guidelines like, "You must do this forever or else." I left plenty of space to just see how I felt and then decided what was best for me based on my personal experience. It's got me wondering how often we paint ourselves into emotional corners based on attachment to someone else's point of view while ignoring or pushing down what our bodies are telling us. NO ONE knows you better than YOU! When we start to sort through what is merely ego and what is truly intuition (no small task), we can stop "bull-shoulding" and shaming ourselves for all the things we don't do and instead get down to the business of taking exquisite care of ourselves.