Bliss.

I’ll let you into the secret behind my current dedicated exercise-bunny state.

Although clearly the LONG OVERDUE transformation from largesse to sex kitten is undeniably motivation No 1 and building up sufficient muscles/fitness to complete Commando Challenge is motivation No 2. However the best motivation I have for getting up at 5am is this:

Pure and Simple - 5 mins of BLISS in my day.

I LOVE these 5 mins of stretching post session as I don’t have to push myself to run harder or berate myself for slowing to a walk, pull in my abdominals or pray that my arms will hold me up for just another 15 seconds. I don’t have to mentally juggle all my deadlines and work out which of my 4 bosses is scariest or most stressed and so what needs to be priority A, B and C for the day when EVERYTHING is URGENT. I don’t have to work out where I can penalise our providers and so save the purchasers £millions after literally spending MONTHS negotiating mutually beneficial agreements and building up rapport. I don’t have to wonder when I'll be handed my P45, or how I will get my car to the garage to be fixed. I don’t think about how to keep myself away from the cake table at work or how to stop O.D.ing on chocolate or how the heck I’m going to complete 10km on Sunday, around what is effectively a cross-country course.

For these 5 mins I don’t worry about how to get on better with the people that drive me crazy or how best to placate the people whom I drive crazy. I don’t feel the need to plan a strategy for re-engerising my career or to figure out where my next pay check is coming from. I don't scheme where to get £180 for the Alexander McQueen Skull Ring that I heart. I don’t even try to mentally schedule when to get my hair done (which is getting to crisis point!) or my legs waxed (already past crisis point!) or when and what to buy for those shamefully overdue "just because you are so amazing to me" pressies.  I don't even try to make any mental notes to myself to get to bed by 9pm (ok 9.30pm at the latest), to call my sisters, to speak to Dad about the dog, to make a reservation for dinner on Friday, figure out how to change the date/time setting on my camera or even to finish organising the commando challenge group training sessions. And in these five minutes, I DEFINATELY don’t EVER ponder my eternal conundrum of "Will I EVER be smart/funny/confident/ slim/successful enough to get a date?…………"

For these five minutes, I literally just stretch, watch the sun on the leaves of the trees in Hyde Park and know HOW LUCKY I AM.

I wouldn't swap those five minutes for an extra hour in bed EVER. Anyway, SLEEP is for WIMPS! x