The alarm goes off at 5:30. And it’s not that I love getting out of bed any more than the next person. It’s just that I know what comes next. I know what the reward is. I understand what I’m gaining as I force myself towards the coffee maker.

I make a cup of coffee and take it back upstairs to my bed. I open up a book or my journal or honestly, Pinterest. And I sit. In silence. It is the hour before the Shoulds, the Musts, the Hurry Ups. It is the hour before the Schedules, the Meetings, the Appointments. It is the hour before the world gets a say in who I should be, what I should be doing, and how it should be done.

Silence. Peace. Coffee. Gratitude. Words to write. Words to read. Words authored by me before the day takes over and I become a character in someone else’s book.