This morning is beautiful, not because of anything intrinsic about the day itself, but because of the way I have begun it. And despite what some writers might say about beginning each day as a new day, today’s beginning is somewhat dependent on yesterday’s end. I must acknowledge this.

Yesterday wasn’t actually such a good day. Yesterday I woke up really late, after spending hours and hours watching videos on YouTube. (At least they were good videos- I feel like I made progress on my Mass Effect journey, which is something really important to me even if it doesn’t make sense to anybody else. More on that later.) That said, I neglected sleep- which might just be the most important resource ever.

We didn’t sell many t-shirts yesterday,  but that was alright. We sold enough in the two days before. We packed up and left early. I spent some good quality time with my girlfriend, and then I got home.

I decisively chose not to go online. I went straight to bed and picked up my notebook. I did 20 push-ups. I started writing down my thoughts, which I might share at a later juncture. After a while, I felt a wave of sleepiness naturally come over me. I almost fell asleep while writing- a feeling I haven’t had at a natural bedtime since I was in primary school. (It is, however, a feeling that is often encountered while at junior college, or work.)

This morning I woke up… I think I woke up at about 6am. What normally happens is I wake up, go back to sleep, wake up again, maybe jerk off (yes, I’m one of millions), go back to sleep… and by the time I wake up, it’s already 1pm, or 3pm, or worse. When I wake up, my mind is a whirr of static. At some point in time, my thoughts from the previous night made their way to the surface, and I rolled over and picked up my notebook and continued writing. About 10 minutes into it, my mind cleared, and I’m wide awake.

I still gotta do my morning 20 pushups. I’m adding reading to my bookends. So thoughts-writing + 20 pushups + water parade + reading at least a chapter, every morning and every night.

Beautiful life. Good start. Going to be studying all day today. Steps towards dreams? Yes.

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I made some decent progress studying. Watching Neil Gaiman’s Commencement Address. (Do what you were meant to do. Yes, I am meant to connect people, share great ideas and amplify signals.) Enjoying it. Reading Derek Sivers. Enjoying it. (Whatever scares you, go do it- I’m going to do stand-up comedy tomorrow. I’m doing my A-Levels at the moment. I’m selling t-shirts, and I’m going to write like crazy.)

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Sivers:

1. You already have something that people want.

It might be something you own, something you’ve learned how to do, or access to valuable resources, space, or people.

2. Find a way to share it with everyone who needs it.

Gaiman:

Pretend you’re someone who can do it.