Sacred Time
Do you carve out any sacred time for yourself?
Time when you can be alone with your thoughts. Time when you can pursue your interests without any distractions. Time when you can get shit done?
I’ve been sticking to a 5 AM wakeup discipline for a few years now, and it’s allowed me a few hours of sacred time each morning to do whatever I feel like doing before the demands of work, family, and other priorities start to gain momentum.
It’s been great.
I’ve been able to read many books, write many blogs, and log many miles of running during those cherished morning hours. I wouldn’t trade my early morning wakeups for almost anything.
But while at the beach the other week, during my sacred hours, I had a revelation. I was making my morning coffee when I looked out the window and saw a giant, gorgeous blood moon still present in the sky. It was bright orange and incredible. In the time that it took to put sugar in my coffee and change into my running gear, the moon was no longer visible due to the rising sun. I thought to myself, “How amazing, yet fleeting.” I got out of the house and began my run. It wasn’t long before I was forced to stop in my tracks. The sky on the opposite side of the island was glowing pink and red. As I approached the beach access, I saw the sun rising over the horizon—a bright red ball in the sky. Once again, I stood there stunned. Similarly, in just a matter of minutes, the sky transformed back to its regularly scheduled programming, and the unique beauty I just experienced was just a blip in time.
That’s just how sacred time ought to be. Amazing, yet fleeting.
I recently finished reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, and it has me dissecting my habits and how they complement or detract from my use of my sacred time. What habits are good and that I can build upon, and which are squandering the time that I work so hard to carve out for myself?
I’ve realized that while I have a great foundation—I get up early, I read some days, I write some days, I run some days—I have no ritual or system. I’ve become wasteful with my amazing yet fleeting scared time. I go to bed with the best intentions but wake up doing whatever feels right.
But just because it feels right doesn’t make it the right choice. If I said I was going to sit down to write, but instead, I read (because it’s easier), ultimately, I made the wrong choice. If I said I was going to run, but instead, I read (because the weather sucks), ultimately, I made the wrong choice. Sure, I’m being productive and doing the things I love each morning. Still, I lack direction with my sacred time, and more importantly, commitment to the intention I set the night before in the interest of what feels comfortable the following morning.
I wrote a blog a while back about adding structure to my running because I felt like I was all over the place with my training. I’ve since followed through, which has been transformative for my overall progress and recovery. But now it’s time to add structure to my sacred time, a daily practice to ensure I stay on track every day.
No more wasteful mornings—getting up early just to cave to comfort. No more mindless distractions. No more scatterbrain while I try to decide what I’m going to do with the hard-earned time that’s already getting away from me.
The goal isn’t to get up and do what I feel like doing with that time. The goal is to follow through on the intentions set from the night before.
The goal is to get shit done with that amazing yet fleeting time.
