As a child with no clue about the brutal transactional world that we live in, I had a lot of hopes and dreams for myself. As soon as adulthood kicked in, that’s it. All the childhood dreams came crashing down on me because there was too little time and too many things that needed to be accomplished for that child within, above attempting to get my shit together as a 27-year-old.
It is 00:53 am as I am writing this blog post. Not only do I not have my shit together as a 27-year-old, I barely have a good daily routine, which I believe leads to why I think that I don’t have my shit together.
Okay, careers, a romantic relationship, and friendships aside, I am pleased in those departments. But the thing is, there is more to adulthood than the things I listed and am happy with.
Growing up, I read a lot of self-help books and all of the books I read suggested that if I sleep early and have a good daily routine, I am able to wake up early and get more things done, which means I’ll successfully be an adult who has their shit together.
Waking up early is also tied to success. Don’t ask me why because I used to believe in that statement so much so that I used to aspire to wake up early by going against my natural body clock, and I failed time and time again. No matter how hard I’ve tried, the thing is, I’m not a morning person.
I had to reflect on what I learnt from those books deeply because what those books are not mindful of is that our body works differently as humans. Some of us are early risers, while others are night owls. And to me, that’s okay. We have 24 hours a day, and it doesn’t matter when we choose to live our lives and when we choose to sleep. Or when we have breakfast and dinner.
I came to think a lot about why I think I don’t have my shit together even though I actually do; I am content with my job, I am happy with my relationship, and I love the friendships I have with my friends.
What I find rather disappointing upon reflecting on this topic is that when we feel like we ‘don’t have our shit together,’ we often fall back on the books that confirm that we don’t have our shit together because we’re not early risers, and therefore, don’t have as much time in a day to achieve our goals as those who do without thinking about the nature of our health and how we are as a person.
I am not saying being a morning person is bad and vice versa. I am saying that it doesn’t matter whether you’re an early riser or a night owl. We all have 24 hours in our day. It doesn’t matter when we have breakfast or dinner because, at the end of the day, a person who wakes up early may not necessarily be checking all the things off their to-do list while the night owls are.
So realistically, I have my shit together. You have your shit together. There is no rule as to when one should go to sleep or wake up in order for them to be labelled as having their shit together. Let’s learn to love ourselves, understand our bodies, and respect that.
