I'm ready to retire early

The first thing I'll do is turn off my alarm.

Photo by Abhishek Babaria on Unsplash

The moon met me each morning over our front stoop like it was personally responsible for my emergence before it could retire to the west as the sun stretched to start its shift from the east.

Sometimes, I’d say hello as if we were buddies before sitting on the stairs to meditate and journal.

Magnificent shades of pink creased clouds on the prettiest daybreaks, just before the sky morphed from dark to light.

Birds sang. Squirrels scavenged. Neighbors, one by one, scrambled to start their days.

I now carry greater perspective and appreciation for it all as the newest member of the 5 a.m. club.

Today marks the 66th consecutive day that I’ve rolled out of bed at 5 a.m. to start my day. It was the barrier for entry into the club, according to Robin Sharma, author of “The 5 AM Club.”

I’ll make it to 67 straight days only because Parker, since joining me for the first time on Day 11, has committed to making an appearance whenever she’s with us. She’s only backed out twice. But she’s into it. She’s even listening to the audiobook during our commutes.

Keep going, sweetie. I’ve learned that waking up early is a great way to always function as your best self.

It’s not easy, though, and I realized about a fourth of the way through that everyone isn’t in position to achieve this. Perhaps for a week. Maybe even a month. But nine weeks and three days is a commitment that requires almost perfect circumstances.

Anything from a night shift to a sick child can cause a sleepless night and torpedo your best intentions.

The sun starting its shift at 6:57 a.m. on Sept. 21, Day 47 of the 5 a.m. club.

I unknowingly had an ideal window for pulling off this feat. From Aug. 8 through Oct. 10, I was in a relatively slow period with work. With no NBA games to attend professionally, I wasn’t required to be the night owl I’ve needed to be throughout my career. By starting near the end of summer, I also enjoyed virtually perfect weather conditions — earlier sunrises and warmer mornings that made getting fresh air pleasurable first thing.

But you also have to want to wake up.

It amazed me each morning how many of our neighbors dutifully started each day before daybreak. It was clear that many were hurrying off to jobs and to shuttle their children to school. On weekends, dawns were never busy. My mind wondered why it’s so much easier to commit to obligations but not to ourselves and our truest desires.

Above all, that’s what the 5 a.m. club was — a commitment to self.

Yes, I benefited from supreme scheduling on top of my already fairytale-like life and how it’s structured. Still, I overcame plenty. I began 2 1/2 weeks after drastically altering my lifestyle by moving in with my lady friend Triest and her daughter Tiffany. There was my initial shock, which lasted about a week, along with a comical dose of daytime delirium. For the first two weeks, I fought every fear from oversleeping to taking a nap too late and being unable to sleep at night.

My alarm clocks, plural, needed to be moved up from 5 a.m. and 5:01 a.m., respectively, to 4:55 a.m. and 4:58 a.m., because I had no chance of a punctual start with a 5 a.m. alarm.

Then my metabolism grew explosive and slowed me down some more. The book warns you about this, and it’s real. Early morning trips to the bathroom have a way of forcing you to listen to your body. Let’s just say comfortable starts to my mornings were all the incentive I needed to cut back on alcohol and unhealthy foods during this stretch.

I also cut out early on two house parties and my alma mater, Norfolk State University, in the fourth quarter of its nationally televised season opener against Florida A&M University. We lost, and I didn’t regret going to bed.

I powered through two road trips, one to Michigan and another to Minnesota. The trip to Minnesota mandated that I share a hotel room with three, including two 10-year-olds, and upon returning I didn’t get to bed until 1 a.m.

I kept rolling out of bed anyway.

I experienced mental fatigue and physical soreness, illness and an injury that felt like a hernia or groin strain.

But I’m glad I stuck with it.

You can point to almost any area of my life and it’s improved over the past two months thanks to the 5 a.m. club.

I’ve incorporated stretching into each morning. I’ve adopted a significantly better sleep schedule, sparked by removing my phone from my bedroom at night so that I must get up to turn off my alarms. Now my sleep is more stable than ever.

I’m also exercising more than ever. Every day since Day 15, I’ve reverted to an exercise my old high school basketball coach introduced me to. Using a standard deck of cards, you alternate push-ups and crunches on each flip. All face cards have a value of 10. Aces are 11. All told, it’s between 120-200 push-ups and crunches each morning. The commitment, when coupled with my walks and gym time, has me in the best shape of my life.

I have more energy. I’m more confident, more organized, more creative, more focused, more determined and more disciplined.

It took enormous sacrifice, which often bled into selfishness, to get here. I’ve never put myself first so brazenly. You quickly learn through this exercise, however, that no one cares about you and your goals like you.

That’s why I’m proud of my perseverance.

Because nothing matters more than being your best self.