The billionaire husband, the supermodel looks, the mega-mansion in LA - there are many things Miranda Kerr and I don't have in common. But after interviewing her a month ago, I found out we do share one thing. 5am wake ups.
Miranda's reason is a six-month-old baby. I remember that life stage all too well. I was so tired after countless broken nights and a dawn starts, I had twitchy eyelids and borderline depression.
Now I'm in my 50s my body is waking itself up. I mean the insanity! Why, why, why? On holiday with no alarm call? Wide awake at 5.18am. After a late night? 5.42am. It's a really bad day if the time on the clock begins with a number four.
Lots of successful people choose to wake up at 5am to achieve greatness. The Obamas so they could get to the gym and run the country. Apparently, Anna Wintour rises at 4am to fit in reading, exercise and a blow dry before getting to her desk. When I was writing my book, I set the alarm at 5.30am to carve out time from an already full day. It worked.
But now my early wake ups are not a choice. My body’s age, stage and hormones conspire to bring me to consciousness pre-dawn. I'm not unusual. According to The National Sleep Foundation, 61% of menopausal women suffer from disrupted slumber.
Waking up at this time made me frustrated that I couldn't nourish my body with sleep when a cosy bed was available to me. I was also anxious that I wouldn't be able to perform during the day at work or be resilient enough to deal with whatever family situation was thrown at me.
But then I had a realisation. I could use this time to improve my life rather than wallow in the unfairness of it.
I am a lark, so I am most productive in the morning. Rather than sweating and swearing, I started doing instead. In fact, I am writing the piece you are reading at 6.45am. I also compose all those tricky emails or WhatsApps (I don't send them till later though as I don’t want to risk waking people up with a ping). I can timetable in exercise. I can think clearly and order my day. Crucially I can work without disruption because everyone else is sleeping.
It often gets to 10am and I look around at the rest of the world, who are on their first caffeinated drink, and feel a massive sense of accomplishment.
The flip side to this is I am exhausted by 9pm and tend to get a little, er ratty. To counter this, I've found early bedtimes are key.
This is something else I share with Miranda. Though she told me her husband (Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel) likes them to go to bed at 8pm!
What? There's a balance to be had to me that's tipping the scales. Even the promise of supermodel looks and a billion-dollar fortune couldn't tempt me upstairs at time when only toddlers and prisoners should be calling it a day.
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