My head feels like it's exploding for all the right reasons

The other day, I was having lunch with a friend who told me that he wakes up at around 4:30 a.m once a week to travel for work. I can still re-enact the scene where I proudly proclaimed that I hadn't even seen that hour of the morning in months. Any guesses when I woke up today? Because the universe has a strange way of making things happen. And it hasn't even been a week since that lunch.

I am not a morning person. I can only be fully awake and a functioning human being by 11:30 am after ingesting my system with coffee and breakfast. I'm almost always hungry when I wake up because I have dinner at a very normal time every night, somewhere between 7 and 8 p.m, after which I stay up till at least midnight without snacking because snacks don't last in a house with Shane in it. I fall asleep feeling hungry and wake up feeling hangry.

You guys know the whole struggle I went through this year, trying to sort out my sleep schedules, only to realise that I was a natural night owl and that attempting to wake up early was simply torture. The only good thing that came out of that exercise was complete self-awareness and the realisation that I should refrain from being too ambitious in the sleep department. And THANK GOD for that awareness or I would have bitten some heads off and spat them out my window this morning.

I realised towards the end of last week that I would have to wake up early today and I started preparing myself for the same about three days ago. So last night, I was in bed by 9 p.m, feeling fully exhausted and ready to fall asleep. And it worked like magic!

I still hated the fact that I had to drag my sleepy body off the bed when the alarm went off, but it was nothing a creamy, chocolaty, 500 calories worth cup of coffee couldn't fix. And I had just the right amount of energy to interview one of my heroes. I wasn't too worked up or excited, nor was I exhausted. I felt just right and she still managed to blow me away.

When you started reading this, I'm betting you thought I was going to bitch about the fact that I had to wake up too early this morning, and whine about the long day I've already had. But you're wrong. I have had the most amazing day so far. I'm just the tiniest bit tired but who even cares about being tired when something you never dreamed of in your life and started anticipating only when you realised that you were allowed to dream, finally happens?

Our guest is in India but she's spent a chunk of her life as a Desi Outsider and boy, does she have a story to tell! I can't wait for you to listen to Thursday's episode on the podcast.

Also, I might be waking up at ungodly hours once again for her and here's a sentence I never thought I'd say: I'm very keenly looking forward to that next 4:30 a.m alarm.