This morning I woke up tired. The night before, I had gone to bed finishing up a blog post around 11:30pm, set my alarm for 5am and passed out right after. Alarm goes off at 5am (wow alarms are so disciplined!) and I reluctantly get up at 5:30am. I go through my morning routine pretty tired – exercise, meditation, and morning pages (from The Artist’s Way, remember?). As I was getting into my three pages, I realized something – I was struggling. In fact, I’ve been tired for quite a while. I’d been going to bed late, getting up early and repeat cycle for quite a long time. (Not gonna lie, I slept in til about 9am this past weekend as I was on a house-sitting staycation).
When I feel myself being so tired, my self-development mind goes into solution-mode. “Why am I tired?” “This is what I should do – I should go to bed by 10pm and get up by 5am – that gives me 7 hours – and I’ll be good!” “I’ll cook my dinner in the morning so I can just microwave it at night and get right into my work!” “What if I just did everything I needed to do in one hour (impossible)?” HAHA! My brain is trying to tell me that something is wrong and that I need it fixed. But I will pose the question – what if this is normal? At this point in time in my life, what if this is how things are supposed to be?
The Grind
Don’t you love hearing that story of this regular ol’ person wanting to be GREAT who goes to bed by 10am, wakes up at 6am – full 8 hours of sleep! – takes their time cooking their delicious and healthy meals, and doing all of their work in speed record time? Oh wait…you’ve never heard that story? That’s because that story DOESN’T EXIST. Any success story from any entrepreneur or artist does not have a perfect, balanced life as they are in the grind.
Are you striving for something GREAT? Do you have goals that are soooo big that they are basically dreams at this point in your life? If so, I bet you’ve felt the same way I have. You’ve felt the struggle. You are working SO HARD to eventually be living “the life”. But what if this is “THE LIFE”? What if you are doing IT? And are in the middle of it RIGHT NOW?
You Asked For This
I’m going to be blunt and say it – you asked for this. You asked to do something great with your life. This is the greatness. Greatness isn’t something that you have when you “make it”. It’s in the little things you do every day that lead you to the big things. Greatness is RIGHT NOW. Does that mean sacrifice sleep because you have goals you want to accomplish? Yes. Does that mean eating beans and rice for months because you don’t have the time, energy, or money to make an extravagant meal? Yes. Does that mean you feel tired a lot of days, but you push through it because you get to wake up with the opportunity of moving closer to your dreams? YES!
I’m not saying get 2 hours of sleep a night and stay up drinking Red Bulls and 5-hour energy’s. I am ALL ABOUT self-care. Even when I’m tired, I make meditation a priority. Most of the time, I make exercise a priority. My morning pages are a priority. But you know what else is a PRIORITY? My dreams and my goals. The realization of the ideas in my head coming to life and possibly changing another persons life. Showing them something they’ve never seen before. Or maybe they have, but they needed to see it from me, at a certain moment, in a certain way. That’s a priority to me.
People may tell you – “slow down!” “take it easy!” “get some sleep!” and at that point, ask yourself – “Is their opinion and advice a priority in my life?” If the answer is no, keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t be silly and stay up all night doing some BS project that has nothing to do with any of your priorities. KNOW that what you’re spending your time on is important. That’s all you need. Trust your struggle. If you’re tired in the morning and STILL ecstatic to work on your craft or business AGAIN, you’re doing something right.
If you feel you’re a passenger on the struggle bus, good; Some people don’t even jump on the bus, but at least you’re going somewhere.
“Don’t stop when you’re tired. Stop when you’re done.” David Goggins
Take care of yourself. You deserve THE BEST. ❤
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