Morning owl

Always been a night owl, me. There's something about those midnight hours, free of telephone calls and emails. The silence outside the window. I felt that the fact everyone else was sleeping while I was awake was something special. I'd be more open to the flow, more creative. It didn't matter that I'd be falling alseep at my desk while listening to yet another playback of the track I was working on. Of course, the end result of staying up late is getting up late the next day.

Looking at it from the perspective of someone who's now up by 6 a.m. most mornings, I can see it was really a form of self-sabatoge. I'd stay up until after midnight - sometimes til dawn. I'd be wiped out the following day. No energy. Things would be left undone. I just couldn't get myself together.

I've recently made a rule for myself that I'll turn the technology off by 10 p.m. and may not turn it on again until 5 a.m. This is very much helping me avoid the checking of Facebook, email, forums, youtubes, etc., late at night. There's nothing to do but read a real book, or sleep.

The other thing I'm trying to do is prepare for the morning the night before. Get the dishes done. Make sure the studio is ready for morning inspiration. Tidy things up so there's nothing in the way of the flow.

I'm not a paragon of virtue here. I still struggle to get myself to bed at a reasonable time, but I find when you get up earlier you're usually ready get some zz's once supper's over, lol.

I still have a lot to do. There's a lot of minimalizing and sorting out that needs to be done to create a quiet and organized place where order begets creativity. Last night I was feeling overwhelmed by how much there is to declutter. I reminded myself, baby steps. Don't look at the whole thing. Just pick one small task to do, and do it.

Changing my life, one day - and one step - at a time.