Monday, September 26, 2016

Night Owl's Lament

We're looking to rent two perches in the owlery. 
DD and I are both night owls. What does this mean? Well, we could both happily stay up half the night and we both hate getting up in the morning. Neither of us feels like eating anything at breakfast time - it takes at least a couple of hours of wakefulness to work up any appetite. And both of us are hungry from about 4 pm onwards and still looking for something to nibble at around 10 pm.

During the long summer holiday we were like a couple of students going to bed later and later and getting up nearer and nearer towards lunch time. This was possible because my work over the summer was running online English courses with papers submitted for grading and feedback. No one in the household had a set schedule. This is nice for a while but after a few weeks it begins to feel slothful and unfulfilling.

The truth is that even though night owls are awake for roughly the same amount hours as larks, they are rarely as productive. Even for a night owl, the mornings are the most productive - if you can catch the mornings. Some of this might be to do with feeling virtuous to have risen with the dawn and have the whole day stretching ahead of you.

There's no getting away from the, 'I'm a bit of lazy slob,' feeling that comes with getting up late. And when it gets dark outside, you slow down and do less even if it's the equivalent of early afternoon for you. Being a night owl basically means you have more time to waste watching tv or messing about online, and less time to live your life.

I cannot describe the effort it takes us to get out of the house on time of a mid-winter morning when you're tired from lack of sleep as well as experiencing the freezing and sometimes wet darkness that everyone suffers. But equally, I cannot describe the willpower it takes to go to bed at a reasonable time.

I can entice myself to bed with the promise of a good book. But DD, who is not yet reading on a level equal to her level of interest and maturity, just lies there being bored. Through necessity she's learnt how to make up elaborate daydreams. I insist she gets into bed at 8 pm (now that we're back at school) and stories can take up to an hour (have you seen the length of a Harry Potter chapter? And she has to read to me first). However, DD can be lying awake until 10 pm, even after a full day of school.

DD has friends who can't keep their eyes open past 7.30 and some who even go to bed at 7 pm! On the other hand, they all get up at 6 am! You can't have your adult time at both ends I know this. Until now I've been pretty smug about having a child who sleeps late. However, she's old enough now that I don't have to entertain her at stupid o'clock and she also has things to do.

The only way we are going to survive this school year is by getting up earlier and being tired enough to go to bed earlier. The alarm clock has been going off at 7 am and we drag ourselves out of bed at 7.15. Tonight I'm setting the alarm for 6 am. I'm not quite sure what we're going to do with that extra hour yet, but it has to be done. I'll let you know.


8 comments:

  1. I've never worked out what I am - when I was younger I just used to burn the candle at both ends, and have the occasional long sleep to catch up. Now I'm always trying to catch up, but I do like to get up before the rest of the household because it gives me a good run at the day (that may be an Irish expression). Good luck with the 6 am start. xx

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    1. I also like to get up before DD for a good run at the day. Just to shower and dress in peace, fix the lunches, and get my stuff together before I have to be available to help her if necessary. 6 am didn't happen :P

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  2. I think I used to be a night owl, but these days I am more of a sleepy budgie... :D My children vary from going to bed early on a school night but reading for a couple of hours to much later on a weekend...

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    1. Yes, sleepy budgie is also a much more accurate description for me after about 7 pm.

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  3. If this is of any help, I can say (from own experience) that those cycles *can* be changed. However, the change (it was the other way around in my case, from lark to night owl) over 1.5 years of forced inversion of activities and it was more than brutal (pure torture, without exageration).

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    1. I can believe that - it is pure torture for me getting up early and if I go to bed early I'm just lying there bored (or reading which is the same as staying up). Why would you want to go from lark to night owl? Don't you want to be healthy, wealthy and wise?

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    2. I did not want to, but I had no choice really: baby waking up at 4-5am for the day + no help around + needing to work means the only time I *could* work was late evening. So after 1.5years of that, my body adapted it would seem: while I'm awake for probably more than is healthy, I am most active in the evening (which I never was! after 9pm I would at best curl on the sofa with a book). I still hope to get back at some point to being a lark (fresh and getting things done in the morning), but on the other hand I doubt anything ever goes back to "how it was." One more thing to mourn and move on from.

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    3. Once the baby is older and needs less supervision you might be able to readjust again.

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