Ten Minutes Earlier

Last year, I started getting up at 6am to write each morning. I wasn't too hard on myself – if I’d had a late night for any reason, or if I was particularly tired that morning, I’d allow myself the extra sleep – but most mornings I was getting up. And it was great. I was writing more, and I got to enjoy that quiet time of morning before everyone starts leaving their houses and the streets become noisy.

I like early mornings (even if I’m not exactly a morning person).

But then I went overseas for two weeks in November, and everything fell apart. I wrote while I was over there, but I certainly didn’t get up at 6am every day. Sometimes it was four, sometimes it was ten. And so when I finally made it back to Australia (I was caught up in the airport closure in Thailand) I couldn’t make myself get out of bed.

Then came December; my birthday, Christmas parties, Christmas itself, and all the excesses that those things bring with them. My early mornings were lost.

Lately, I have managed to get up at 6.30am, giving myself twenty minutes to write before I have to start getting ready for work. Today, I managed to get up at 6.20am.

And this is my aim: ten minutes earlier each day.