Why my day starts at 4:30 am

My average day, now goes a little something like this…

4:30 am: Wake up
4:45 am: Workout
5:30 am: Meditation
5:45 am: Get ready (hair & makeup)
6:00 am: Coaching clients*
9:00 am: Shower
9:15 am: Drive to Shared House
10:00 am: Work
4:00 pm: Head home
4:45 pm: Start dinner
5:30 pm: Dinner
6:00 pm: Homework with kids
7:00 pm: Unwind with Chris or read/write/finish work
9:00 pm: fall asleep

*Shout out to my incredible husband Chris who takes the kids to school in the morning while I Coach clients, then picks them up after school while I’m driving home from work. I certainly don’t do this life alone!

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I’ve been a bit slack on the blogging scene and perhaps that’s because I have been enjoying the “boring” that normal brings. Not to say that my days are boring at all, but they honestly don’t feel as eventful as they had in the first month of my transition to LA or the months leading up to it. I’ve been enjoying settling into a routine, monitoring it and making adjustments along the way. I spent so much time getting anxious around how I was going to “get it all in” and now, it all seems to fit.

Two weeks ago, I was exhausted. I was starting my day at 5:30 am by rolling out of bed, applying mascara and eyeliner (just to not look like the walking dead) so that I could be alert and camera ready for my first coaching appointment at 6:00. From there, the day was a whirlwind. 3 hours of coaching, followed by 45 minutes of driving, followed by 6 hours of working, then 45 minutes of driving back for 1 hour of cooking, 1 hour of homework support, and maybe I would talk myself into working out. I remember saying to Shan at the end of one week saying, something needed to change. My energy was depleted (I even asked Chris to Amazon us a juicer, convinced that I could drink some magic elixir that would cure my fatigue). But worse than the fatigue, my old friend “resentment” started to creep back in.

I asked Chris, how is it that I am literally doing my dream jobs right now and yet for some reason, I’m still dreading Monday?

It dawned on me that in finding normal, I was leaving out the things that made me feel whole. I thought the Coaching and working with Shared would be enough because both are things that I love to do. But it turns out that when you are pouring from an empty cup, it doesn’t matter much if the cups your are pouring into are diamond encrusted or plastic. Your cup is still empty. My cup was still empty and I had to start prioritize filling it real quick.

So this is going to seem weird but I started waking up at 4:30 am in an effort to have MORE energy in the day…and it friggin worked! Like INSTANTLY worked!

I went back to starting my day with a workout, followed by mediation and some light gratitude journaling. It’s a tight race to get camera ready from there for my first client but OMG, that fog was instantly lifted! I had some of the best Coaching sessions I have had in weeks! I smiled all the way to work as I took in the beautiful mountains that lined the California highways. I listened to albums I hadn’t had the opportunity to take in (my music of choice cusses a lot so I don’t get to listen to it in the house or in the car with the kids). I found so much joy and laughter in the work I was doing with Shan and Jared. It felt like we were really coming together and having the experience we originally signed up for. I had such incredible energy throughout the day because it wasn’t being weighted or distracted by the resentment I feel when I’m not looking after me, so I get pissed at everyone else for taking anything from the little I had to give. That self-fulfilled energy that took me straight through the evening when it almost felt difficult to crash because I was enjoying being with my husband so much. More and more our relationship has felt like my safe and happy place.

It feels incredible to say that sun up to sun down, I am feeling like I am in my best skin and surrounded by people who are raising me up because I feel full enough to allow them to. Yeah read that one again! I feel full enough to allow others to raise me up, instead of my typical “F you! I’ll do it myself!” attitude. The difference being that waking up earlier than the world allows me to start my day proactively versus reactively. Proactive means that I take care of me first. Reactive means that I am rushing against the clock to serve others.

I’m not saying that a 4:30 am wake up is everyone’s key to fulfillment (it actually very well might be but I know many people just aren’t about it). I’m simply sharing what is working for me. Let’s also be real though. this blog post is nice and all but I’m not jumping out of bed in the dark ready to take on the day. I still try to convince myself every morning when the alarm goes off that I can and should sleep longer. That I can skip my workout, or that rest is sometimes more important than a workout. Sometimes, I listen to that voice and pay for it later by living in a fog for much of the day. I know that voice doesn’t ever completely go away but, if the “shut up!” time gets a little shorter each day, that’s a win for me.