For most of my life, I thought of myself as a night owl.
Not by nature but by mere circumstance.
From age 1–6, I grew up in a small Zimbabwean village. I had to wake up quite early. Not because I wanted to, but because life demanded it. Sunrise meant responsibility. I’d be out helping take the cattle to graze in the plains or working the crops alongside my now late grandmother 💐💛
There wasn’t much choice in the matter. The day started when the sun came up, and your role in the family and community started with it.
By second grade, life had suddenly shifted. I was now living with my mom and aunt in a small farming town. My mother worked as a teacher, educating the young kids of a nearby farming village. Even with this exciting step up in living conditions, the early mornings didn’t escape me. I still had to walk ~2.5km to school because we didn’t own a car. Class started at 7.30AM, and I had to be making my way out of our very small rental home by 6.45AM.
In fifth grade, the same pattern followed me to boarding school. Again — early mornings.
Lights → blindingly on.
Voices → super loud.
Beds → crisply made.
Shoes → well polished.
Everything about mornings felt cold and forced. Compulsory. It never felt like my time, my pace, my rhythm. I associated mornings with duty, pressure, and being rushed out of bed before I was even ready. I hated it!
So somewhere along the line, I decided: "I’m just not a morning person."
It became part of my identity. The quiet moments of the night became my sanctuary. That’s when I felt free. That’s when the world stopped asking things of me. When no one expected anything, that’s when I could just be. So I leaned into it. I made it who I am.
I gotta admit! I still do not have a healthy relationship with mornings.
But recently, I’ve started questioning the narrative.
At the start of this year, I wrote down my goals. 2025 was meant to be the year I finally took care of my health. I want to get fit. To look and feel the way I’ve always envisioned. But instead? I’ve just been grinding. Caught in the cycle. It’s midyear and I’ve already been sick at least six times .Sometimes physically, sometimes mentally, most times both.
I started strong in January. My wife, my sister and I challenged ourselves to exercise almost daily. I was running, getting back into calisthenics, feeling the momentum build up. Then February hit. Life did what it always does. Curveballs, disruptions. And I fell off. My work demanded more. I relapsed into old patterns. Again 👀
Last month, I finally got dental work done on three teeth — something I had been putting off for two straight years. I felt disappointed, but also relieved. That relief was actually deeper than physical. It was the inner peace of finally doing something for me.
That moment clicked something in me: I don’t want to keep putting my needs off because I’m chasing life’s wants. I still want to achieve my goals for the year.
It’s not over!
I looked at my schedule. I knew the only time I had left for the gym was in the morning. But, there was an annoyingly deep problem.
→ I’m not a morning person.
I’m a night owl. A creative.
That’s just who I am.
right?
But what if I was never truly a “night owl?”
What if I was just never given a choice?
What if the resistance I’ve always felt around mornings wasn’t biological, but psychological? Something I learned, not something I am?
Could it be something I can unlearn? Can I rewire how my mind responds to the cold of the morning, the comfort of a warm blanket?
Right now, I’m actively reshaping that identity. Not because I suddenly love the morning grind, but because I want to reclaim it. I want to start my day on my own terms, not out of obligation. I want to make peace with sunlight, my childhood. I want my mornings to be a choice, not a loaded trigger for procrastination.
There’s something powerful and uplifting about choosing to wake up early. Not to be productive for the sake of hustle culture — but to prepare your mind and your spirit before the world starts asking things of you. It’s about meeting the day with conscious presence and calm, rather than being thrown into the chaos of it all.
For me, that’s the first win. Turning something that once felt like a burden into something sacred. It feels like liberation.
It’s not about becoming hyper-disciplined or perfecting a 5AM routine. It’s about aligning with a rhythm that works for the life I want to build. A rhythm where I wake up a little earlier not because I have to, but because I choose to.
That’s the life I want to live! A life full of intention and conscious choices.
For me, that’s one small step towards freedom.
A way to grow 🪷
Next post is an update on how my mornings have actually been going! ☕️✨