Dearest readers,
Happy Saturday! Hope you’re all having an amazing start to the weekend.
I finally opened my first Christmas present, which was gifted to me by Allan: a handwritten card, a gift card to a spa, and the self-help book, The 5AM Club, by Robin Sharma. I am 55 pages into this book, and man, is it changing my life.
The thesis of this book is simple: master your morning routine, and you will elevate your life. This principle dates back centuries ago, when Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealth, and wise.” Indeed, waking up early is a common practice shared by high performers, be it athletes or entrepreneurs. The last time I woke up at 5am regularly was during college, but that was more a function of mania, rather than conscious choice. I’d get 3-4 hours of sleep and wake up with zest and energy for the long day ahead… this was not normal behavior, but a function of an overactive brain. But I do think back fondly on those early mornings, when the sun was just rising, and I’d walk from my dorm to the library, not another soul in sight, feeling happy and grateful to be studying at my dream school and CRUSHING it in my academic and extracurricular life. Early mornings are divine, and something I’d like to integrate into my routine moving forward.
Last night I opted for a quiet night in, curled up in my bed reading an incredible book, as opposed to my usual frenetic Friday night at salsa dancing. I had planned on waking up early today, but because I’ve been doing both SKY Breathing and taking my usual dose of sleeping meds, I’ve been getting excessive sleep, something to the order of 11-12 hours a night. I’m also a bit sick right now, so my body and mind demand rest. I awoke groggily at 10:30am… perhaps this is a sign that I can start to taper off my sleeping meds, since taking 100mg of trazedone in conjunction with SKY breathing is a bit too sedating. I slept well, mind you, but woke up tired. The first thing I did was jump in a cold shower that woke me up some. This is probably not the best idea, given the fact that I have a cold… we’ll see how I fare the remainder of today.
I’m dreading the Yoga2Music class I have to teach in less than an hour. It’s one of my favorite classes to teach, but one of my symptoms of sickness is muscle aches– everything hurts. I’ll have to endure the torture of a 50 minute yoga class, but I will survive, I’m looking forward to my 3pm podcast interview with my fellow dance friend and therapist, Azra. She’s the first mental health expert I’m bringing on to the podcast, and I’m looking forward to sharing her wisdom and insights with the world.
The rest of the day, I will take it easy. Maybe redeem the spa gift card Allan gave me and get a nice, full-body massage followed by hydrotherapy.
8:01pm
It is nearing my bedtime. I haven’t made it to the 5AM club yet, but I plan on shooting for 8AM tomorrow. Baby steps, right? If I am to get my requisite 10-11 hours of sleep, I must have my head on the pillow by 9pm. I guess this is the first shift I am noticing in myself at the infancy of this year: becoming more of a homebody. I say that word in the best possible way. Being sick has rendered me unable to go out dancing into the early hours of morning… and I find that I rather enjoy quiet nights alone in my room, reading and writing, meditating and breathing, reflecting on my life and how I want to move forward. I shared some great conversations with dear friends today, and I want to teach everyone I know about SKY breathing, which has and continues to transform my life. I had a great podcast interview with my friend Azra, who is a therapist, and we talked a lot about her work with kids, how to build rapport, the positive effects of EDMR on healing trauma, and more. She and I continued to talk for an hour after the podcast was done, and we caught up over lost time. She told me she would do an EDMR session on me for free, so I can get a sense of what it’s all about.
Well, I’m officially sick. Took it easy today because my body is fighting infection. Towards the end of the day I started getting a headache and had built up a temperature; hopefully the worst of it will be over by tomorrow. It sucks being sick because I can’t be as productive as I want to be, and I certainly can’t work out. Teaching yoga was an ordeal today, as I imagined it would be, since my body was aching and the asanas were especially painful. I would also get dizzy every time I arched back or traveled up and down the mat. But I’m glad that is over.
That’s it for tonight. I’m gonna do a bit more reading, then SKY, then sleep. Tomorrow is service day: teaching an online breathing and meditation class at 9am, expressive writing group at 1:30pm, then mental health peer support group at 3pm. I’m excited, and I need to be rested to do a good job for my students. Have a blessed night, everyone, take care!
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