Thursday 19 September 2013

Why Do You Get Out Of Bed In The Morning?

Watching a TED talk recently (in attempt to find inspiration to write my artists statement) the speaker, Simon Sinek, raised a point that while simple, profoundly hit home in my mind.

That question was "Why do you get out of bed in the morning?"

He talks about the fact that most people know what they do, and how they do it, but very few people can explain why.
So when posed with the question- Why do I get out of the bed in the morning? -my reasoning descended from confidence to confusion incredibly quickly.

We all know that we awake from our slumber in the general hours we consider to be morning. We go about our day and then go to sleep at night. Any behaviour that doesn't conform to the cycle is considered 'unusual'. But WHY?
Because we're told to do so? Because its what we've always done? Because it's what everyone else does? Because getting up in the morning serves a purpose (to our lives or to others)?

Sure, if you delve deeper into the question you can come up with logical answers of how our ancestors had to make use of the daylight hours to hunt and gather. Its just human nature. Its in our DNA.
But this information is no longer relevant to our modern lives of technological advancements and non existent socialization constraints. We possess the capabilities to get whatever we what, whenever we want. Our habitual waking routine serves no fundamental benefits to us. It has it become a societal ritual that we have never bothered questioning. You could probably spend the entire day in bed, and still have access to all your daily needs and desires.

So the question now turns to what purpose does getting out of bed really serve? What are you doing in your day that is any different to what you did yesterday? Or the day before that? (which "conforming to predetermined behavioural cycles" is by all means, a legitimate answer)

So I'm curious to know- Why do YOU get out of bed in the morning?

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