Waking Up at 4:00 a.m.

I’m an early bird who prefers to wake up between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. For the past month, I’ve been waking up around 4:00 a.m. without being able to fall back asleep. I’ve been through this spell before. Thankfully, all things come to an end.

This has been a typical morning for me through the entirety of 2020:

• Wake up between 3:00 and 4:30 a.m. to pee
• Drift in and out of sleep or fail to sleep until 4:00 or 4:30 a.m.
• Lie in bed until I realize how stupid I am for trying to sleep
• Jump out of bed around 4:45 a.m.

To combat this insanity, I’ll be experimenting with the following over the next few weeks:

• Ingest natural calm sometime between 7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Sip on water (instead of drinking it) after dinner (to avoid waking up to pee)
• Start making dinner slightly earlier, between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m.
• Shut down my computer before 8:00 p.m.
• No screens after 8:00 p.m. other than my Kindle Paperwhite
• Meditate for 10+ minutes within an hour of my intended sleep time.

Based on my own experience, I know that these things may help and certainly won’t harm my sleep.

Why is this happening?

I don’t know. I have theories but I’ll never know for sure what the main cause is. My main theory is excitement. We all go through spells in life where excitement strangles us. If we are playing in the Super Bowl tomorrow, we may not sleep at all due to excitement.

Shit is going well for me. I’m on the verge of starting a new chapter in my life that involves moving to Miami Beach. I’m 100% debt-free. My net worth is small but increasing nearly every week. I went from earning 10% of the income I need to move to Miami Beach to more than 50% in the span of 3 weeks. Before February arrives, it’s likely I’ll be earning more than 100% of the income I need.

I’m excited. When my eyes begin to shut on their own shortly after 8:30 p.m., I want to sleep. The first instant I wake up the next morning no matter how early it is, I want to start my day. I try to go back to sleep because of how important sleep is for my health. If I fail to sleep for a quality six hours, I’ll be drunk on sleep deprivation. If I fail to sleep for a quality seven hours, my mind will be impaired.

I’m in a pickle on a daily basis.

The takeaway

I write these words for me and you. If you are waking up at ungodly times, pay attention to the emotion that has been encompassing your life over the past few weeks. It may be excitement. It may be sadness. It may be anger. We all need to experience a variety of emotions but they shouldn’t overtake us. Contentment and calmness are what soothes the soul and enables us to sleep well and for as long as we need to.

Realize that nothing is forever. Everything comes and goes.

Close your eyes and breathe.