As humans, there is always something we wish we could change. For me, the one thing I really want to change is my one bad habit of waking up late.
This is a struggle I have been battling with for a long time, and it has made me miss out on important events and opportunities. Whenever it happens, I feel so angry and disappointed at myself, but sadly, that doesn’t stop it from happening the next time.
The most recent one was my friend’s wedding. She had visited our shop to buy one of our wigs and wanted it glue less. Being my friend, she asked me to bring it to her house so we could go to church together.
I knew myself, so I promised I would sleep early that night. But that was the same night my screen time doubled. The more I wanted to stop scrolling, the more interesting things kept coming up on my screen. By the time I finally went to bed, it was already very late. Thank God for my alarm.
Unfortunately, the alarm didn’t wake me up. When I finally opened my eyes, it was already 8:40 AM. I saw countless missed calls and I obviously knew it was. I immediately rushed to get ready. By the time I got to the church, the choristers were already singing praises, and there was my friend, sitting at the front with a sad face.
I begged the usher to help me pass a message to her that I was around and the wig was with me. When she got the message, she turned towards me and gave me a bombastic side-eye. I knew I deserved it. She refused to leave her seat, but knowing it was her big day and that she needed to look like a bride in her bridal wig, she finally agreed to come.
This experience, and many others like it, have taught me the importance of waking up early, especially when it has to do with things that matter. If I could change just one thing about myself, it would be this. I want to be that person who wakes up on time because it is necessary.
For some time now, I have been working hard to cut down my screen time, sleep early, and train myself to wake up by 3 AM without an alarm. Then I allow the alarm to ring at 7 AM as a backup. Though the results have not been very encouraging yet, I am positive that if I continue to be intentional, I will see the change I’m looking for someday.