Getting out of Bed
If we just remember what we live for, perhaps we won’t have as much trouble
Good morning!
Do you have trouble getting out of bed in the mornings?
On the one hand, most of us probably don’t get enough sleep; although it’s weird that we as a species have been destined to spend roughly a third of our lives in an unconscious state, it’s also scientifically well-known to be a necessity for us, as our brains require time without activity to process the previous day’s events, sort memories out properly, and clean up any messes left or caused by unwelcome stress.
Nevertheless, even though the amount of sleep we get isn’t always what it should be—I am currently trying out a system where I take a nap after work, have free time till midnight, and then go to sleep again to split my sleep and optimize time after work, we’ll see how this goes, but so far so good—there’s something more to this idea of waking up early and actually getting out of bed.
While still in bed this morning, I stumbled across a video in my news feed about the Stoic emperor, Marcus Aurelius, talking briefly about the concept of Ikigai, the idea that everything—from a leaf to a chair to a plow or skyscraper—has a purpose, and so of course man must also have some reason for being. In the first minute of me watching the animated video, this question was presented: if you had more time, what would you do?
I felt convicted about wasting precious minutes in my mornings, so I got up and drove to the office instead of watching the rest of the video, but still the question haunts me; there are several things I say I would do if I had more time—e.g. read books, dabble in writing stories, sharpen my Spanish skills on Duolingo, et cetera—but I haven’t really committed to doing those things on a regular basis; I tell myself that if I had more time in the mornings, I’d do more, but I can’t seem to get out of bed any earlier than I already do (4:40 AM).
If you have trouble getting out of bed in the mornings, I hope this encourages you and reminds you that you’re not alone; but, as we strive to go from glory to glory, let’s put some effort into our own development and remember why we exist; if we remember what we were created for, perhaps we’ll have less trouble getting out bed in the mornings.
God bless you, have a great day, and thanks for reading!
Hey, thank you so much for reading! I’ve been writing these daily messages mostly consistently since August of 2016, always free of charge. If you would like to sign up and receive them by email every weekday (sent out at around 7 AM PT if nothing goes wrong), please click here. Enjoy!
