I'm a very early riser, and I don't like to miss that beautiful early morning light.

Show up before the world demands

There's something almost rebellious about waking up early on purpose, especially in a world that celebrates sleeping in as the ultimate luxury. But O'Keeffe understood what many of us forget: that the early morning offers something you literally cannot get any other time of day. That light has a quality—softer, more slanted, almost forgiving—that changes how you see everything, including yourself.

The deeper insight here isn't really about being a morning person. It's about deliberately choosing to show up for something beautiful before the day starts demanding things from you. Those quiet hours before emails and obligations pile up are when your mind is clearest, your attention least fragmented. For O'Keeffe, it meant capturing colors and shapes in her paintings that most people would never notice. For us, it might mean taking a walk, thinking clearly, writing something honest, or simply sitting with coffee and not feeling rushed.

What makes this approach radical now is how intentional it forces you to be. You can't accidentally catch that light or stumble into those calm hours—you have to choose them, which means you're saying yes to something before you say yes to everything else. That's not about being disciplined. It's about protecting access to the parts of the day when you're actually yourself.