Liliya Krueger/Getty Images
- I've been waking up before 3 a.m. for the last 30 years. It's just what my body prefers. I go to bed early and have a morning routine that sets me up for a good day. Having time to myself in the morning keeps me grounded.
For the last 30 years, my body has been waking up between 2:15 to 3 a.m. At first, I thought getting up so early was due to jet lag from a trip to the Middle East. Then I decided it was peri-menopause, but whatever the cause, it never stopped. Thanks to the fact that I've never had a day job and always worked for myself (a fact I'm very proud of), this has never been a problem. I just go to bed early, between 8 and 8:30 p.m.
This pre-dawn time is my solo sanctuary. I belong in the club with such creative heavyweights as Virginia Woolf, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ernest Hemingway, and Emily Dickinson, for whom the early hours were the most creative time of the day.
I have an early-morning routine, and I stick to it
First, I soak in our hot tub, sliding around in the silky, amniotic waters, letting the limbic phase between sleep and wakefulness ease any creakiness in my back. Occasionally, I get lucky, glimpsing the mama raccoon that hangs out with her babies in the crevice between our home and the next house. She peeks around the edge of the building, peering at me with bright, piercing eyes.
Then it's time to get serious: coffee! After that, I read (books, news, and blogs), work on essays (like this one!), do the NYT Spelling Bee puzzle, do yoga or Pilates, and journal, a habit I've had since I was 9 years old.
Waking up early means I have time to myself
When my husband, Barry, and I first lived together, I was a budding writer, so I insisted on having my own room to work in. Barry supported this, but it turned out he wanted a space of his own, too. (The nerve!) Since we couldn't afford a larger apartment, we decided to sacrifice the bedroom so we could each have our private space.
Every night, we unrolled our foam mattress onto the carpet in a corner of the living room and made the bed, reversing the process in the morning. During the six months we lived in that apartment, I sold every article I wrote. Looking back, I don't believe I'd have been as successful had I squeezed my desk into the bedroom.
Though we haven't always been able to keep the practice of having our own defined rooms, over the years and in different homes we've lived in, we've still found ways to take space for ourselves, whether that's an entire office, an alcove, or a corner. Because our current apartment is small, our "rooms" take the form not of a physical space but of time we get to ourselves. Just as I have my pre-dawn hours, Barry has his late-night time. Our different cadences give us a healthy daily break from each other.
By allowing myself to wake up when my body wants to, I feel happier
When people ask me how I can get up so early, I explain that it's not my choice so much as my innate biorhythm. A person's sleep schedule preference is closely tied to their circadian rhythms, the natural physical process that follows a similar cycle every 24 hours. I used to worry that I wasn't getting enough quality REM rest, but my sleep pattern doesn't affect my energy level during the day, especially because Barry and I have a cozy lie-down on our sofa almost every afternoon, one of my favorite times of the day.
I'm fortunate to be an early riser, perky even at 3 a.m., because much of the world, and certainly the US, isn't set up for night owls. Plus, some studies show that people who wake earlier are far less likely to develop depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders, probably because early risers have more access to daylight, a natural mood booster.
My quiet time in the early morning hush lingers with me all day long. Whatever challenges I face, I can always rely on the sweetness of my solo sanctuary to anchor me.
