The Joy of Waking Up
A little thought I had when on a walk.
Maybe humans can only wake up when they have TV shows they want to watch, dates to go out on. It’s said that waking up early makes for a better life, but if you ask me, it’s having a good life that allows you to wake up early.
—Sugaru Miaki, Starting Over
I have been trying not to write this since it’s late, but something tells me I won’t regret doing it. Most of the story I’m about to tell you will be ramblings without structures, but I’ll see what I can do.
For a long while, I’ve been more aware of my dreams. Some are excellent enough to get me out of bed and write them down, hoping to have some “divine” materials for when I decide to start a novel writing career or something. But, at times, I wish to stay in some dreams more than life would allow me to.
Like, I would get out of bed to turn my alarm off, set another to go off in 20-30 mins, then go back to sleep hoping to reenter the dream world. Most of the time, it would succeed, and I would do this back and forth until I couldn’t. I suppose some people could relate to this — some dreams are indeed more interesting than reality itself. But, I wonder, is there something here?
If a dream is so interesting that you’d want to skip your waking hours to go back to it, does that, in turn, imply that reality itself is perhaps less enjoyable?
I may be overthinking this, but I do notice that, at times in my life, I find it difficult to get up in the morning despite getting enough sleep at night. I wonder if it’s because of the innate craving to escape reality, as if life is a game, you are a player involuntarily brought into it, and when you are asleep, you don’t have to play it.
This sounds pessimistic. However, I find it consistent with what the author Sugaru Miaki said through his character.
It’s having a good life that allows you to wake up early.
And not the other way around. As my writing reaches this point, I suddenly remember what my oka-san once said,
Sleep is the best thing in the world, because you don’t have to think about anything when you do it.
At this point, I’m more certain than ever that there is something here to feel concerned about. But, I’m still glad, in part because this thought came to my mind and now your mind, and in part because one could use sleep as a sign to (partly) tell if one is having a good life.
If you struggle to get up early despite having enough sleep, chances are you aren’t enjoying reality as much as you would like to. This sounds harsh, but the fact that you now know this - is something to be glad about. And when it happens, it should allow you to reflect on where your life is heading, and if it’s where you want to be.
Most of us don’t do this. I sympathise.
Have a cookie 🍪
—Thomas
P.S.
I hadn’t planned to write this letter to make time for finals prepping, but I guess life sometimes finds its way to make your plan go away. Can’t say I will make it this Sunday, but I will do my best!
🥇 Weekly Gold
Each week, I share one thing I found interesting with you. It could be a song, a book, a quote, or a YouTube video that blew my mind.
Here’s the gold this week 👇
I’ve been deeply in love with Sugaru Miaki’s writing since reading Three Days of Happiness. Starting Over is the first novel he’s ever written. It showed me how powerful a writer well-versed with words can be, and how beautiful their words can be too.
Well, I would love to be one.
Credit:
Photo by Jordan Whitt on Unsplash