Entertainment
Waking Up Early Doesn't Make You Special, It Just Makes You Annoying
By Robert Scucci
| Published
I love staying up late. It’s my favorite thing to do. I can get my work done, fold the laundry, work on creative projects, and hit the gym without bothering a soul. My brain operates at a frequency that’s constantly at odds with early birds, who often frown upon my lifestyle because to most people, sleeping in comes with a scarlet letter suggesting you’re lazy and squandering your time. At least that’s what morning people think.
Every single self-help guru extols the virtues of waking up at 4 am, taking an ice bath, jogging 10 miles while listening to Tony Robbins audiobooks, all before the sun even comes up. If I never saw another sunrise in my life, I’d die a happy man. I’m sure they’re beautiful. I’ll take your word for it. I’m simply not wired to operate at this wavelength, and more often than not, I’m fighting for my life.
On one hand, I get it. Adulting, as my fellow Millennials call it, requires you to be present at certain times. Banks close at 5. Since the pandemic, grocery stores close at 10. The world isn’t built for Night Owls, and we’re silently suffering while trying our best to conform to what most people consider normal behavior. The world is built for early birds, and they love to brag about how productive they are. They also go to bed at 8 o’clock, so how does that make sense?
We All Have The Same 24 Hours
I understand that this comes off as petty, but let me break it down for you. If somebody wakes up at 4 am and goes to bed at 8 pm, they’ve got 16 hours to accomplish what they set out to do. Eight of those hours are devoted to work in most cases, and then you have to factor in commuting, meals, self-care, family obligations, and, yes, even sleep. This kind of lifestyle is not only celebrated, it’s expected.
But if I want to stay up until 4 am and sleep until noon, people can’t wrap their heads around it. It’s still a 16-hour cycle of consciousness, but most people don’t see it that way. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. I do. You do. Beyoncé does. It’s insane to think that being able to witness the sunrise somehow makes you superior. Most early risers flaunt this like they’re God’s gift to mankind.
What’s worse is that every single Night Owl I know, including myself, ends up marrying an early bird. The story’s always the same. The night owl uses their phone’s flashlight when they go to the bathroom so they don’t wake anybody up. They turn the doorknob before opening or closing the door so there’s no loud click echoing through the hallway. They tiptoe around their home because they know they’re the odd one out.
Then morning rears its ugly head. Lights are flipped on with reckless abandon, kitchen appliances roar, and doors slam. When the night owl grunts, they’re told they should have gone to bed earlier.
Even worse, if they mention they like to sleep until 10 on the weekends, their peers think their life must be a mess. They must be up all night playing video games and engaging in illicit activities or something. They’re just wasting away because they refuse to, or simply can’t, lock in when everybody else does.
Golly, I wish that were true, but I’m actually doing stuff, like writing (which is what I’m currently doing at 1:30 am) because I think better when I know my family is safe and sound and doesn’t need a single thing from me. I can achieve a flow state that I couldn’t dream of during regular waking hours, and my family’s better off for it!
Embrace Your Wiring And Let It Work For You
In a previous professional life, I worked third shift as a line cook. My schedule saw me leaving for work at three in the afternoon and getting home 12 hours later. Since this was pre-pandemic and I had an infant at home, I’d stop at the 24-hour grocery store after my shift and load up on a week’s worth of groceries in about 15 minutes. Try doing that on a Sunday afternoon with your regular sleep schedule.
It will take two hours, and everybody’s going to be stressed out because grocery stores on the weekends are absolute hell; people walk around like coffins, blocking every single damn aisle, the lines are miserable, and everything sucks. I took one for the team, and now we can do other things. Things we like. Just let me squeeze in a power nap, and we’re good.
In my mind, I wasn’t just optimizing my time by accomplishing a task normally reserved for nine to fivers, I was doing it peacefully.
I’m fortunate enough to live in a household where this lifestyle is actually celebrated and respected, because I know it’s not that way for everybody. Since my wife is an early riser of the highest order, I found myself getting to bed right when she was getting up for work, and I knew I’d have to take care of our child (who woke up at seven) until she got home at noon. I’d then take a glorious nap and do it all over again. Our weekends became fuller because we didn’t have to run errands in time-suck mode, and we all benefited from it.
Presently, I write and work in audio production, meaning I have a flexible schedule that suits my lifestyle, something I’m immensely grateful for. On any given weekday, I’m getting the kids ready for school, doing a line check for my various gigs, planning my day, and snoozing for a bit before getting to work.
At 10 pm, when my family is sleeping soundly and I know all is right with the world, I do my best thinking. There’s a total lack of overstimulation compared to what most of us encounter during the day. It’s peak performance at the most inconvenient time, so might as well roll with it.
Thinking about my life, and I hope some of you reading can identify with this, elementary, middle, and high school were absolutely miserable experiences for me because I’m wired to be a Night Owl. Always have been. I was an average student at best because my brain simply doesn’t boot up until later in the day, and my grades reflected that.
I’ve tried cutting coffee after noon and even taking prescription sleep medications, but I experience and expect an epic second wind, without fail, when the world goes quiet, meaning it’s go time. That’s when the circus always kicks into high gear, and I got tired of pretending otherwise.
By the time I was attending university, I suddenly became a Dean’s List student because I decided to take night classes. I saw desirable results when I stopped fighting my wiring and started embracing it. It’s almost as if some people are destined to be late-night lurkers.
Night Owls Are Essential Beings
The hardest part about being a Night Owl is adjusting to everybody else. I wear a sleep mask during the day so our houseplants can thrive. Those without a proper support network struggle because 7 am on a Saturday means running on barely any sleep, and having to live up to everybody else’s expectations. They’re called grumpy and told they should have a more responsible sleep routine.
If we were living on a different timeline, we’d be stoking the fire and watching out for marauders. Our willingness to stay up late would serve what most people consider a practical purpose.
But in this modern nine-to-five world, our lifestyle is scrutinized because we choose to operate when everybody else chooses to rest. When we decide to catch some Zs, however, we’re told to get up and at it because there’s just “so much to do.”
What early birds don’t understand is that we already did it all, just not on their time.
Entertainment
Waking Up Early Doesn't Make You Special, It Just Makes You Annoying
By Robert Scucci
| Published
I love staying up late. It’s my favorite thing to do. I can get my work done, fold the laundry, work on creative projects, and hit the gym without bothering a soul. My brain operates at a frequency that’s constantly at odds with early birds, who often frown upon my lifestyle because to most people, sleeping in comes with a scarlet letter suggesting you’re lazy and squandering your time. At least that’s what morning people think.
Every single self-help guru extols the virtues of waking up at 4 am, taking an ice bath, jogging 10 miles while listening to Tony Robbins audiobooks, all before the sun even comes up. If I never saw another sunrise in my life, I’d die a happy man. I’m sure they’re beautiful. I’ll take your word for it. I’m simply not wired to operate at this wavelength, and more often than not, I’m fighting for my life.
On one hand, I get it. Adulting, as my fellow Millennials call it, requires you to be present at certain times. Banks close at 5. Since the pandemic, grocery stores close at 10. The world isn’t built for Night Owls, and we’re silently suffering while trying our best to conform to what most people consider normal behavior. The world is built for early birds, and they love to brag about how productive they are. They also go to bed at 8 o’clock, so how does that make sense?
We All Have The Same 24 Hours
I understand that this comes off as petty, but let me break it down for you. If somebody wakes up at 4 am and goes to bed at 8 pm, they’ve got 16 hours to accomplish what they set out to do. Eight of those hours are devoted to work in most cases, and then you have to factor in commuting, meals, self-care, family obligations, and, yes, even sleep. This kind of lifestyle is not only celebrated, it’s expected.
But if I want to stay up until 4 am and sleep until noon, people can’t wrap their heads around it. It’s still a 16-hour cycle of consciousness, but most people don’t see it that way. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. I do. You do. Beyoncé does. It’s insane to think that being able to witness the sunrise somehow makes you superior. Most early risers flaunt this like they’re God’s gift to mankind.
What’s worse is that every single Night Owl I know, including myself, ends up marrying an early bird. The story’s always the same. The night owl uses their phone’s flashlight when they go to the bathroom so they don’t wake anybody up. They turn the doorknob before opening or closing the door so there’s no loud click echoing through the hallway. They tiptoe around their home because they know they’re the odd one out.
Then morning rears its ugly head. Lights are flipped on with reckless abandon, kitchen appliances roar, and doors slam. When the night owl grunts, they’re told they should have gone to bed earlier.
Even worse, if they mention they like to sleep until 10 on the weekends, their peers think their life must be a mess. They must be up all night playing video games and engaging in illicit activities or something. They’re just wasting away because they refuse to, or simply can’t, lock in when everybody else does.
Golly, I wish that were true, but I’m actually doing stuff, like writing (which is what I’m currently doing at 1:30 am) because I think better when I know my family is safe and sound and doesn’t need a single thing from me. I can achieve a flow state that I couldn’t dream of during regular waking hours, and my family’s better off for it!
Embrace Your Wiring And Let It Work For You
In a previous professional life, I worked third shift as a line cook. My schedule saw me leaving for work at three in the afternoon and getting home 12 hours later. Since this was pre-pandemic and I had an infant at home, I’d stop at the 24-hour grocery store after my shift and load up on a week’s worth of groceries in about 15 minutes. Try doing that on a Sunday afternoon with your regular sleep schedule.
It will take two hours, and everybody’s going to be stressed out because grocery stores on the weekends are absolute hell; people walk around like coffins, blocking every single damn aisle, the lines are miserable, and everything sucks. I took one for the team, and now we can do other things. Things we like. Just let me squeeze in a power nap, and we’re good.
In my mind, I wasn’t just optimizing my time by accomplishing a task normally reserved for nine to fivers, I was doing it peacefully.
I’m fortunate enough to live in a household where this lifestyle is actually celebrated and respected, because I know it’s not that way for everybody. Since my wife is an early riser of the highest order, I found myself getting to bed right when she was getting up for work, and I knew I’d have to take care of our child (who woke up at seven) until she got home at noon. I’d then take a glorious nap and do it all over again. Our weekends became fuller because we didn’t have to run errands in time-suck mode, and we all benefited from it.
Presently, I write and work in audio production, meaning I have a flexible schedule that suits my lifestyle, something I’m immensely grateful for. On any given weekday, I’m getting the kids ready for school, doing a line check for my various gigs, planning my day, and snoozing for a bit before getting to work.
At 10 pm, when my family is sleeping soundly and I know all is right with the world, I do my best thinking. There’s a total lack of overstimulation compared to what most of us encounter during the day. It’s peak performance at the most inconvenient time, so might as well roll with it.
Thinking about my life, and I hope some of you reading can identify with this, elementary, middle, and high school were absolutely miserable experiences for me because I’m wired to be a Night Owl. Always have been. I was an average student at best because my brain simply doesn’t boot up until later in the day, and my grades reflected that.
I’ve tried cutting coffee after noon and even taking prescription sleep medications, but I experience and expect an epic second wind, without fail, when the world goes quiet, meaning it’s go time. That’s when the circus always kicks into high gear, and I got tired of pretending otherwise.
By the time I was attending university, I suddenly became a Dean’s List student because I decided to take night classes. I saw desirable results when I stopped fighting my wiring and started embracing it. It’s almost as if some people are destined to be late-night lurkers.
Night Owls Are Essential Beings
The hardest part about being a Night Owl is adjusting to everybody else. I wear a sleep mask during the day so our houseplants can thrive. Those without a proper support network struggle because 7 am on a Saturday means running on barely any sleep, and having to live up to everybody else’s expectations. They’re called grumpy and told they should have a more responsible sleep routine.
If we were living on a different timeline, we’d be stoking the fire and watching out for marauders. Our willingness to stay up late would serve what most people consider a practical purpose.
But in this modern nine-to-five world, our lifestyle is scrutinized because we choose to operate when everybody else chooses to rest. When we decide to catch some Zs, however, we’re told to get up and at it because there’s just “so much to do.”
What early birds don’t understand is that we already did it all, just not on their time.
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