My alarm goes off consistently at 5am and, if I am being honest when it rings out, I rarely feel like getting up. I love my bed, and I love sleep, however, very quickly, my love of life and my excitement to get into a new day wins out, and I get straight out of bed. Without wanting to come across as arrogant or full-of-myself, I am also really glad I wake up me. I have spent far too much of my life wishing I could be like, live like, and have like other people. These days I am genuinely happy to be me. An event last week reinforced this to me in a big way, and I hope it helps you feel the same way about yourself.
It was Wednesday morning, the day before leaving for Bali, and my alarm went off predictably at 5am. I jumped out of bed, got into my training gear, and headed out for my daily training session. It was a chilly morning, and I was going to my outdoor gym to do some strength training. I have a pair of training gloves I needed on this morning, which live in my carport, where my car is obviously parked, and where my bike is chained up. As I went to get them to put them on, they were not where they should be. I puzzled for a moment thinking I must have taken them inside, so I went back into my apartment to check, and could not find them.
It was really quite disconcerting as I had used them just a couple of days earlier. I looked high and low, to no avail, and whilst doing so missed the most obvious of situations. So focussed was I on finding my gloves, I didn’t even realise that my bike was gone, and the chain-lock cut and laying on the ground. My bike, and my training gloves had been stolen. I live in a secure apartment block, and somehow overnight someone had got in, cut the chain, and rode away on my bike, wearing my gloves to keep their hands warm. This makes sense as it is winter in Melbourne, and very cold at night, so I am glad the thief had some common sense. LOL!
I had an interesting response over the next thirty minutes. It started predictably with shock, moved onto uneasiness, shifted quickly into anger, and then surprisingly took a dogleg turn into empathy and finally gratitude. I will jump over the shock, uneasiness, and anger, because I am sure you can relate to those. I will spend some time in empathy and gratitude, as they may seem contradictory to the situation. As I was feeling anger because of this unlawful act, I pretty quickly realised that I didn’t ride the bike much anyway so it’s no great loss, and it is insured so it will be replaced with a new one. The person who stole it clearly needed the money, and in fact may have been one of the homeless people living in my area.
This person needed the bike and the money more than I did, and so empathy quickly emerged. In fact, if I believed someone needed my bike, I probably would have given it to them, had their circumstances been such that it would have really made a difference. As I was going through this thought process the anger dissolved, empathy appeared, and then very quickly came gratitude. I was grateful that I have a roof over my head, grateful that I have the money to afford to lose the bike, grateful that I am surrounded by people I love and who love me, and most of all grateful that I get to wake up me every day.
That person, whoever they are, has a tough life. When you have to resort to theft, things are not good. They may have been through abuse, be caught in a cycle of addiction, have conflict as a part of their everyday life, have no money or home, and possibly even wishing they were anyone else but who they are. They have to wake up them, and I get to wake up me. Wow, how grateful I am. I am telling you this story to help you reinforce or come back to the belief that is great that you get to wake up you. When you think about how some people live, and how some people behave, aren’t you glad you get to wake up you?
In my podcast this week called Lay down the oars, with Bill Williamson, we talk about his new book, ‘Straining at the oars’, and the challenges he has gone through and overcome in his life. No matter what he dealt with, he had a strong sense of self and a powerful faith which helped him believe that waking up himself was wonderful and necessary to help him get through. I hope you feel the same. As you lay your head on your pillow tonight, I encourage you to spend some time thinking about all the wonderful things you have to be grateful for, and when you wake up in the morning you will be glad that you get to wake up you.