"don't be afraid to let your light shine on the world..." : Why We Need the 4 AM Feeling ALL DAY LONG

(image via Flickr)


I have quite possibly the worst sleeping schedule ever. I need to get this under control before the semester starts... Luckily, I have 2 more weeks until I leave!

I'm not really sure what I want to say or if I should have even started this. It's 4 AM and I'm sitting here listening to music and talking nonsense, with a million thoughts. Somehow, I feel really peaceful. The reason? A combination of things: smooth music, a quiet house, a lack of immediate worries, no stress. That's exactly why I stay up so late and have developed such a horrific schedule -- most people are sleeping at this time, so there are less distractions (the necessary AND the unnecessary ones) and I'm able to just... be. This is the realest time of day. If you ever want to talk to me about something serious and need to hear the complete and total truth, hit me up for a lengthy conversation at 4 or 5 AM. It's so much easier to focus on one thing in the wee hours of the morning -- there's no facebook activity to feel like you have to keep up with (shhh.. maybe that's just me...), no one hovering over you & making you feel bad for not getting work done. I could sit here for hours doing whatever I want: writing, reading magazines, exploring interesting pictures on Flickr, reading blogs, finding new music, fantasizing about future successes and travel opporunities, whatever.

This realness needs to transcend 4 AM and persist at all 24 hours of the day. I'm not saying that we need to completely ignore our responsibilities and the beckoning of society. But we gotta find a way to keep the "4 AM Feeling" around during the day and to fit it into those necessary and unnecessary distractions of life. If you want to paint, find time to do that. If you want to learn a new language, make it happen. If you want to create music, go for it. Don't hide behind 4 AM, when no one can see or hear you. Don't be afraid to do something because of what everyone else will say about it -- not everything we do has to be "productive" in a conventional sense. We don't always have to be worrying about making money and doing what people expect of us. If you have something you want to do... then do it. The whole world needs light, so don't be afraid to let yours shine bright at all hours.



"Forever is to strive for a place of endearment forever,
Forever is what I leave...
My I-self contribution.
Damn, what I'm gon' leave?

... I leave my one and only grain of spiritual sand to universal scales of humanity, all humanity."