The Fear of the Alarm Clock: How to Overcome the Dread of Waking Up Early

A simple 5 step introspection you can start today

Most people live in that little red circle. It’s warm, comfortable, safe and you live a life with very little risk. There is absolutely nothing wrong with living here and for some people it’s where they should stay.

I have spent most of my life on the cross-over between comfort and fear.

The Fear Zone is in fact the Dead Zone and if one spends long periods here then the red circle’s powerful allure pulls you back into safety where you’ll extend your stay before venturing out again.

However, for those that make it past the Fear Zone the grass really is greener on the other side. 

But it takes courage, discipline and intention to get there. 

The Snooze Button Epidemic

Millions of people will wake up Monday morning and hit the snooze button savouring every single minute they can under the covers.

And why wouldn’t they? It’s warm, comfortable and safe. The crème de la crème of the comfort zone. 

But something else is happening here, consciously or unconsciously there is a fear of the alarm clock and what it represents - You have to face it all again. 

It might be going to a job you hate, an addiction you battle, a mental illness you have or even just a lack of purpose in life and by hitting the snooze button it gives you those final few minutes safe from your troubles and worries.

But hitting the snooze button is a coping mechanism, an avoidance strategy that you, again unconsciously or consciously, have adopted into your way of life. You fear what the day will bring. 

For others, hitting snooze is a way of procrastinating. You might be trying to build a business, start a bakery cooking Youtube channel, lose weight, or achieve some other positive goal you have. But you fear what might happen if things don’t start going your way. Or more oddly, you fear what will happen if things do start going your way! 

Living in fear you’ll make excuses, wallow in self-pity, be scared of opinion and lack confidence in yourself and those emotions all manifest themselves into tapping that snooze button.

Overcoming the Dread of Waking Up Early

It’s always easier to wake up in the morning when you have a ‘why’. A sense of direction and purpose will drag you out of bed in the morning. But for millions their purpose has eluded them. They dread getting out of bed and facing it all again. This simple 5 step introspection can help you overcome the dread of getting up early: 

Listen

Begin listening to your inner voice, most of the time it will tell you what you’re fearful of. Listen to your first thought of the day. If you’re a snoozer it’s probably the first excuse of the day. Listen and capture the thoughts. 

Identify

Sometimes you think you’re fearful of something but in fact you’re scared of something else. For example, you might think you’re scared of failure so you don’t try. In fact, you are scared about what other people will think about you if you fail. Once you start recognising those fears you can plan to take action against each one. 

Reflect

Write down your excuses. Reflect on why you have those fears. Put yourself under the spotlight. Separate the real fear from the perceived fear. 

Accept

Recognise and accept those fears. They are a part of your psyche today, but they don’t have to be tomorrow. Fear is the most powerful emotion in existence. It can save your life or cause you to lose everything you own. Get comfortable owning those fears. 

Goals

Set some small but achievable goals that confront those fears. You’re not trying to beat your fears. Instead you are creating momentum every day to do things in spite of those fears until eventually you grow and you leave those fears behind.

Reinvention with Intention

I am convinced you can entirely reinvent yourself in 12-24 months. The person you are today can be a distant memory and you can become whoever you want to be. But we have to step out of the red circle and into the fear zone before we ever begin to learn and grow. I like to think of this as reinvention with intention.