Night Owl Rehab

I am not a morning person, I am a night owl.

Since I am now a grown up with a job and no longer a caffeine- fuelled university student; being a night owl is not an ideal situation. In highschool it was too my advantage- with my after-school job and late night paper writing. Admittedly in highschool, I did have to be on the bus by 7:10 however, if I got dressed in the dark and my Dad made my breakfast, I was able to make it onto the bus (where I could sleep) without having to actually be awake for more than 10 minutes.

University was a night owl’s dream. I could sleep in, nap in class, and then stay up till 4 am finishing papers and assignments (or watching tv.) I actually found that my most productive paper-writing time was between 10pm and 2am. And if I got at least 4 hours of sleep it might be hard to wake up, but with a little tea or a delicious raspberry mocha I could still function at full capacity. 

Now I have a job. I have to get up at a decent hour.  I have to be awake and alert to drive to work. I have to be fully functioning to perform my job duties. When my alarm clock goes off I can’t just ignore it, or hit snooze, or just turn it off. I must wake up, and get dressed, and go about my day- Even if my bed is warm and comfy, even if I was having a wonderful dream, even if it is still dark outside since it is winter and the sun doesn’t rise until after 8am.

Often in the morning I find myself groaning and wishing I had several more hours to sleep. Being an intelligent human, I realize I have no control over when I have to get up in the morning. I do, however, have control over when I go to sleep at night. I don’t have paper’s to write or homework anymore so when I am home from work I am free until the next day. So there really is no need to have to stay up late.  So I thought if I wanted to avoid being tired and grouchy in the morning, the best solution would be to try and get to sleep earlier.

So I tried it. It isn’t working.

For the past week I have attempted to be in bed before 11pm. (Much earlier compared to my former 2 or 3 am schedule before I got my job.) Some evenings I even managed to slip under the covers by 10pm! But my efforts were futile- I just ended up tossing and turning in my bed until 12:30 or 1 and it was still hard waking up in the morning.

Night Owl Rehab has so far been a failed venture. I shall give it another week’s go but I might just have to resign myself to the fact that I will never be the type of person who bounds out of bed before the crack of dawn fully refreshed and rejuvenated for another day.