Aligned & Awake: The Strange Wealth of Time
A life without an alarm clock has taught me something unexpected about time, presence, and what it really means to feel rich.
Aligned & Awake
My reflections on life through travel, human design, energy, astrology, and emotional clarity. Not as a guru. Just one person figuring it out in real time.
Time has been on my mind lately.
For most of my life, time belonged to the clock.
9 to 5.
Weekends for living.
Monday meant back to it.
That rhythm sat so deep in my bones I barely questioned it. Wake up to an alarm. Move through the day in measured blocks. Wait for evenings. Wait for holidays. Wait for some future moment when life would finally open up.
These days look different.
I wake when my body wakes. Morning light through the window. Tea. Writing. Sometimes, a slow lunch with other nomads drifting through the same strange and wonderful life. Someone passes bread. Someone pours wine. Conversations wander.
The afternoon might hold more writing. Or a walk through whatever city I happen to be in. A museum. A street corner café. A long look at a building that has been standing longer than any of us.
Dinner arrives when it arrives. Sometimes with friends. Sometimes with a book.
Time moves differently here.
I might not have a steady income right now. My bank account is not the impressive part of this story. Yet I feel rich in a way I never expected.
I own my hours.
I eat slowly. I taste the food. I listen to the stories around the table. I read about things that have nothing to do with work. I walk simply because there is a street outside and my legs still carry me.
And still, time moves fast.
How are we already a quarter into 2026?
It was July 2024 when my whole world tilted and sent me walking into this new life.
Years seem to accelerate as we age. They gather speed like a train leaving the station. One moment, you are twenty-five. The next moment, you are standing in France, wondering where the last decade slipped off to.
Yet the days themselves feel spacious.
This is the strange thing about time. The years race. The hours can still unfold gently if we allow them.
For so long, I lived inside the question everyone asks.
What’s next?
Where are you going?
What is the plan?
Those questions push us forward so hard we forget to stand where we are.
These days I am practising something different.
Being here.
In the morning light.
At the table with friends.
On a quiet street in a country that was once only a dream.
Perhaps this is what life was meant to feel like all along.
Purpose in what we do.
Presence in where we are.
Time is not something to chase, but something to inhabit.
And when you begin to inhabit it, even an ordinary Tuesday afternoon starts to feel wildly luxurious.
Tell me…
If you’ve ever wondered what life might feel like outside the clock, I’d love to hear from you.
What does time look like in your world right now?
I am also living life without an alarm clock now. I was let go from my job, and it couldn't have been better timing. I've been working full-time and doing school part time for 4.5 years, and I was burnt out, nervous system dysregulated. And waking up when my body is ready is making me feel so much better, but also challenging my cognitive pre-dispositions about when I want to get things done in the day. I used to be very strict about being "productive" in the morning, using the evening for rest, but I'm learning that sometimes things have a time of day they want to be completed. Or not. It's just another part of this transition phase for me, and I'm figuring it out as we go!