Why I like my 4:30am alarm.

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I promise this isn’t a ‘thought leader’ post.. trying to brag about their amazing morning routine with kale soup and a 3 miles run…

Just me writing about why I like my 4:30am alarm…

I like it because I’m normally awake before it goes off, so I start the day feeling proud of myself.

Erm what?

Aye. I know. I never thought I’d become a morning person either. That’s a scary idea. But it happened.

My current morning routine is waking to do ADHD meds around 4:30am, dozing till 6ish. Doing stuff on my phone till ‘I’m done’ then having a 45 minute ‘long hug’ with Lion (or another plushie!) to let my brain settle

I come out of the hug full of bounce for the day, right into my first focus tunnel.

Why man. Why?

It seems I need to be active for around 19 hours a day… starting them early puts the most useful hours of my brain at the most useful time of the day.

The 4-6 hours from 4:30am lets the ADHD meds fully kick in. By the time I’m leaving bed my brain is properly awake.

I’ll normally finish being productive in the early afternoon, have a gentle evening and be asleep by midnight.

That’s not a lot of sleep.

I agree. I get maybe 4-5 hours of good sleep rather than 8-10 hours of bad sleep. It seems to work.

I kinda swapped my ‘staying up late’ to the morning end of the day. I use the first spoons of the day for ‘me’ things. It’s pretty nice.

Final thoughts.

I’m sharing cause it seems to work pretty well. I haven’t a clue how it works for other people, but for now it seems to be kinda useful.

Waking before my alarm starts the day with a moment of joy. It feels a little taboo to be awake so early. A sneak peak at the world before the world notices. It’s kinda lovely :)

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Spaced Out & Smiling is about exploring the fun side of Autism, and trying to understand what it means to be Autistically Happy.

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Jamie: @JamieKnight
Lion: @Lickr