Today I am thinking about sending away mornings.
My sister and I were on different sleep schedules growing up. She was the early to bed, early to rise type, and I definitely wasn't. This small difference caused some of the biggest arguments of my life. She was asleep before prime time, and I was up until after the late-night talk shows. It was a problem, and interestingly, we were both wrong.
Average people go to sleep around ten or eleven, and wake up around six or seven. She was ahead, and I was behind. It is still something of a problem for both of us, because she can't comfortably do things at night, and I can't comfortably do things in the morning, though we have both adapted somewhat with age.
I've had close friendships born of the fact that we both were awake at 3 am, when nobody else was. There are definitely night people and day people. I'm a night person who has adapted to the world around me by sleeping less, and sometimes napping. Having children ushered me into daytime life, as did having jobs that demanded it of me.
I grew up in night clubs, where I was surrounded by wonderful people who also liked to go to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, and I made my life work. Still, I have carried with me the guilty feeling that being any brand of counter-culture brings. I have rejected society's "bedtime", and I've had to adjust to the timeline of the world around me, always feeling that my timing was wrong.
Now that I'm self-employed, I realize that I don't have to feel guilty for being a night person anymore. Yes, I'm still aware that society prefers people who wake up at the crack of dawn, but I'm letting go of the idea that that makes someone a better person.
There is an up-side to keeping the hours I do. I get to say good morning to my friends on the East Coast before I go to sleep, and I get a lot done while most people are in bed. I've also learned to get by on very little sleep, and I'm a skilled napper. When the fires burned through Sonoma at 2 am, I was awake. While others were dragged from slumber to face the disaster, I was already up. Summers in Los Angeles would have been unbearable had I been a daytime person, but as luck would have it, I would sleep during the sweltering hot days and come alive in the cool of night. I spent my days in the nights, reading, and talking on the phone to friends in other time zones.
I can't tell you how many times people have asked me, "what are you doing up?" While there are some obvious benefits to sharing a clock with the majority, I'm no longer of the mind that a shift in one's sleep schedule a few hours one way or another makes a person wrong. Accepting who we are and not feeling shitty about it is an element of growth.
Just as some people don't like mayonnaise, and there are dog or cat people, I'm a night person. I love cold weather and stars, just as most people love heat and sunshine.
The beach is lovely at night, the grocery store is empty, and the roads belong to me. So good morning, everyone, I'm going to get some sleep now, I have a lot of work to do when I do wake up, and I'm looking forward to another productive night.
My sister and I were on different sleep schedules growing up. She was the early to bed, early to rise type, and I definitely wasn't. This small difference caused some of the biggest arguments of my life. She was asleep before prime time, and I was up until after the late-night talk shows. It was a problem, and interestingly, we were both wrong.
Average people go to sleep around ten or eleven, and wake up around six or seven. She was ahead, and I was behind. It is still something of a problem for both of us, because she can't comfortably do things at night, and I can't comfortably do things in the morning, though we have both adapted somewhat with age.
I've had close friendships born of the fact that we both were awake at 3 am, when nobody else was. There are definitely night people and day people. I'm a night person who has adapted to the world around me by sleeping less, and sometimes napping. Having children ushered me into daytime life, as did having jobs that demanded it of me.
I grew up in night clubs, where I was surrounded by wonderful people who also liked to go to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, and I made my life work. Still, I have carried with me the guilty feeling that being any brand of counter-culture brings. I have rejected society's "bedtime", and I've had to adjust to the timeline of the world around me, always feeling that my timing was wrong.
Now that I'm self-employed, I realize that I don't have to feel guilty for being a night person anymore. Yes, I'm still aware that society prefers people who wake up at the crack of dawn, but I'm letting go of the idea that that makes someone a better person.
There is an up-side to keeping the hours I do. I get to say good morning to my friends on the East Coast before I go to sleep, and I get a lot done while most people are in bed. I've also learned to get by on very little sleep, and I'm a skilled napper. When the fires burned through Sonoma at 2 am, I was awake. While others were dragged from slumber to face the disaster, I was already up. Summers in Los Angeles would have been unbearable had I been a daytime person, but as luck would have it, I would sleep during the sweltering hot days and come alive in the cool of night. I spent my days in the nights, reading, and talking on the phone to friends in other time zones.
I can't tell you how many times people have asked me, "what are you doing up?" While there are some obvious benefits to sharing a clock with the majority, I'm no longer of the mind that a shift in one's sleep schedule a few hours one way or another makes a person wrong. Accepting who we are and not feeling shitty about it is an element of growth.
Just as some people don't like mayonnaise, and there are dog or cat people, I'm a night person. I love cold weather and stars, just as most people love heat and sunshine.
The beach is lovely at night, the grocery store is empty, and the roads belong to me. So good morning, everyone, I'm going to get some sleep now, I have a lot of work to do when I do wake up, and I'm looking forward to another productive night.
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