My 40 Days Challenge!

Salamo A'alikom Sisters!

I posted earlier that I'll be blogging about my new year's resolutions every once in a while...well one of the resolutions on my list is/was waking up at 5 am (for prayer) and not going back to sleep...I wanted to do this for years! Whenever I think about doing something to be a better, much more productive Muslima, I remember the Hadith of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) : بورك لأمتي في بكورها - “The early morning has been blessed for my ummah.” (Saheeh al-Jaami’, 2841)
In addition to this Hadith, whenever I read the biography of a successful person or a self-development book, waking-up early is the only thing all of them have in common! So I took a decision a couple of weeks ago! I won't sleep after Fajr prayer. Despite having to live on caffeine and Panadol to stay up and headache free, I felt adventurous and excited to see if I'll be able to achieve this new goal or not .
I managed to stick to my resolution for a week, but I was always tired regardless of the number of hours of sleep I got..always drained...didn't have any energy... looked exhausted and couldn't function accurately at work..which isn't fun or safe being a pharmacist!lol!
I thought that maybe being an early bird isn't my thing (I use to wake-up at 9 am)..I went to my mum (she's a medical doctor) and asked " Mumi, do you think that some people are just born with the ability to wake-up early and some aren't..well scientifically..you know?"..She immediately knew where this conversation is going so she gave me the look saying "Stick to your program..you'll get use to it by time..everything is a habit". Later that day while reading "The Leader Who Had No Title" by Robin Sharma (just finished reading this inspiring book today) I came across this paragraph which answered all of my "Why?" questions :

" Because during that initial transition period, you will be in the process of installing new habits. You'll be releasing the old, comfortable ways of doing things and shedding the previous behaviors that no longer serve your ascent into personal mastery.During those first forty days, you'll be setting up new patterns and literally rewiring your brain while recalibrate your inner controls.It's a stressful process, filled with discomfort. It'll feel hard and confusing. So it's natural to think that something is wrong.But that is not at all the case.You're just changing and growing.Everything is perfect, actually.Your former habits of thinking and being must disintegrate before better ways of behaving can begin to integrate. "

This paragraph was an eye opener for me and inspired me to start "The 40 Days Challenge" :
New Habit Number 1 : Waking -up at 5am :)

Who's in? :)

p.s I'll be blogging regularly enshaa Allah regarding this habit and other new habits I am installing!lol :) so watch this space xxx