4 AM

I don't know if you have ever come across people who love to wake up around 4 AM. If you are in the self-improvement sphere, pretty sure you've come across the jocko-willink challenge; wake up like the navy seal.

I have mentioned many times in my blog that I tend to wake up around 3 AM without an alarm. But lately, due to messed up schedule, no fixed daily goals, no actual future mission, I sort of wake up and sleep whenever. This has messed up everything in my life including, my wake-sleep cycle, my immune system, and also my overall mental health. I could care less about it until two days ago I was in extreme pain.

My mom took me to physician as soon as the place opens. I had not slept and it was a long and exhausting trip to the physician. But after the examination, my physician told me that I have stress which disrupt my metabolism, hormone and also my digestion. I was sort of glad because I didn't really have any life-threatening situation. It was stress and also digestion problem. Shortly after,
among many prescription, I was given antibiotics.

Thanks to antibiotics, I am now back to my regular wake-sleep cycle, which is 10PM to 3 AM. And since I am back on the grind, I have more time than the usual.

The perks of waking up 3 AM is having more time to do trivial tasks. I have more time to clean up my place, workout, and even journaling. From this journaling, I realized something I have not been doing for more than 5 months. I forgot to take a "pause" in my life. I forgot to disconnect from the online world, from the work, from the screen and disconnect from the noise of the world.

Taking a pause is something important that I've learned throughout my self-improvement journey. We are not a machine nor a robot that can work incessantly. I have tried, I have also tried using supplements that helps me increase my energy. In the end, I still need to take a break.

For someone like me, taking a break is extremely costly. It means, I am not going to work and won't possibly work for the next 48 hours. It would mean that my chance of getting new clients are lessening. It would mean that a lot of things are halted. This is the sacrifice that I have to make in order to have better productivity and sticking to my schedule during the weekdays.

Today, I am leisurely catching up with my cooking hobby. I tried to learn how to make a simple yet delicious carbonara. I found many recipes out there have ingredients that I can't find where I live. Thankfully, there's one recipe from Jamie Oliver that I can try to modify. Other than catching up with that, I also do gardening. It has been a fun way to spend my time offline and away from work.

Additionally, I try to only limit interaction with people that won't suck up my energy too much. Ideally, a solitude is best for me before I get back into work and socializing.

I also try to disconnect from screen as much as possible. So, if you are going to reply something in the comment, expect delays in my reply. But as I always, I will get back to you.

Are you planing to take a "pause" as well? what's your plan?