Over the years, friends of mine swore down that their most inspired work was often created between the hours of 3am-6am. Naturally, I laughed and pointed and told them they were sociopaths. Not only for being productive at those kinds of hours but awake in the first place. In my mind, those hours are reserved for coming back from nights out, catching flights that were not available at more respectable times, or pacing around the house, baby in arms, if you happen to own one of those.
So, after years of laughing, unjustifiably mocking their determination to get shit done, I find myself awake and ready to go at 5am. The previous night’s social came to a close at a respectable 9pm, there is no flight to catch, the kid is asleep, and the dog barely looked up when I suggested it was time to get up.
Why am I up? Because I am maxed out on adulthood with little time to spare but with a fire within me to be more that I cannot seem to neutralise. What to do. A trained professional whose advice I sought in exchange for money suggested that maybe I should, in fact, just chill out a bit and accept that one cannot achieve all they aspire to all the time, and maybe that’s OK too.
Maybe. Or maybe I just need to create more hours in the day to allow me to attain my world domination goals, as opposed to retaining advice I nodded to at the time but also knew I would never fully take on board.
Conveniently, as we come to another year-end, I thought I’d take the opportunity to take stock of life’s schedule and see where one could squeeze in a few more missions. Turns out the only times in my diary not spoken for are between 9pm and 7am. Deduct the 8 hours of sleep I require for optimal operation and the notion that my brain’s inbox is pretty full at the end of any given day. So, here I am at 5.34am, coffee in hand, laptop being typed on, creating more hours for creative output.
Waking at 5am to do stuff may not sound like a big deal to jolly ‘morning’ people, but as someone who has denounced at her alarm clock since 1991- this is a goddamn feat.
Don’t get me wrong, I like early mornings- the silence and stillness, seeing the sun come up, bragging rights of the ‘I was doing something while the rest of you losers were still asleep’ variety. I’m just not very good at waking up for it. If it was up to me, schools would not start until 10am, hotel breakfasts would be served until midday, and kids will not be allowed to ask questions like ‘what is your favourite number?’ or ‘what was the first thing I saw when I was born?’ until at least 2 cups of coffee into a day. Or maybe just shun their unsophisticated curiosity altogether.
Let’s see how far into 2023 this one makes it.
CREATIVE NOTES 