_{^{How to become the morning person you’ve always envisioned yourself to be}}. But with less stress.

Artwork: Hu Jin

Here is my dilemma. I am not a morning person by nature but I truly love what the mornings have to offer. The solitude before the world wakes up. The sounds of birds that I will probably never recognise in real life, and the quietness that allows you to go inwards.

But I suck at waking up in the mornings.

My inherent reaction is to hit the snooze button, grab my dog and practically force him to give me my morning cuddles (given he doesn’t pay rent).

However, over the years. I have come to realise that it is not that I suck at waking up early, but that I have subconsciously associated my mornings with stressful to-dos. A list of never-ending to-dos.

And that is when I stumbled across the concept of ‘the zero hour’.

A concept where you use the first hour of the morning to pursue activities that actually set your soul on fire and reset your nervous system.

Activities that awaken your soul and reignite the spirit of your inner child, all before the world stirs and begins to impose its demands upon you.

This concept is truly the main reason why I was suddenly able to wake up at 5(ish) am most mornings.

So, in no particular order, here is my list of activities that I’ve trialled, tested and vetted over the past few weeks.

1. Painting with no end game.
2. Creating a list of drinks that I would create if I owned a cafe.
3. Reading a page from my current book (progress > perfection).
4. Listening to the birds outside my window.
5. Journaling my stream of thoughts.
6. Watch my favourite YouTuber.
7. Listen to a creative TedX podcast.
8. Create a Spotify playlist for a particular vibe.
9. Continue to deep dive into a topic that I’m currently invested in (i.e. yoga, philosophy).
10. Watch a show to help reset my nervous system (i.e. Friends, That’s So Raven)