Are You an Early Bird or Night Owl?

Are you a morning or night person?  I'm both, which can get interesting.  I just don't want to miss a thing, I guess!  Ha!  I suppose if I had to pick one, I'd say I'm a night person.  I love the quiet of nighttime.  I can concentrate better, relax, think.  I know I write better at night.  There are no interruptions.

But I do love mornings, too, though.  The coolness in summer, birdsong, brilliant sunrises, refreshing walks.  I can start my day slowly if I wake up early, as opposed to rushing around if I'm running late because I stayed up way past my bedtime writing, or reading a totally engrossing book.  But I can't seem to get used to getting up early in the morning with Jim.  I think one reason is my medication schedule.  To fit in the medications, I have to stay up later than Jim, so I naturally end up sleeping later than he does, which makes my medication schedule later, and bedtime later, and---.  Ah, the vicious cycle!

If you're a night owl, working nights may work out well for you.  Getting used to working that schedule on an ongoing basis rather than just hanging out with friends or reading or surfing the Net until the wee hours can be tough, though.  Jim use to work nights.  I stayed on the opposite schedule at first, but I just couldn't deal with being quiet all morning while he slept, and sleeping alone at night while he was at work.  I get creeped out when I'm alone in bed at night.  So, it worked out better when I made the switch.  I was working at home on the Internet at the time and didn't have very many local customers, so getting up early to accommodate them with in-person appointments didn't happen often.  My night owl tendency came in handy.  The biggest thing I've found that's inconvenient about being a night owl is dealing with early rising neighbors.  When we slept days, we had a neighbor who started mowing his lawn, hammering, and doing any number of noisy projects outside starting at about 6 AM sometimes.  Ouch!  If this happens to you, remember that most people sleep nights and are up in the daytime.  Explain your situation in a calm and reasonable manner and discuss possible solutions rather than storming over there ready for a fight.

How does being a day or night person affect your life?  Does it suit your well?  Do you work night?  How does that affect your life and sleep? Would you rather switch to a day work schedule?  If so, what would you have to do to make that happen?  Let's talk about this!  Give me a shout here in the comments or shoot me an email at amy@acnlifecoach.com.  Take care!