Happy Hump Day! I’m feeling tired this week…I guess I haven’t completely recovered from my trip last weekend. If you guys were following on Instastories, I had to evacuate my hotel in the middle of the night due to an “emergency”…that turned out to be just an overflowed bathtub. And then I had to wake up early for class.
I wanted to talk to you guys today about the concept of being “a morning person.” I feel like the world (or the corporate world at least) is made for such people, and often being a morning person constitutes being successful. Everyone has heard of the saying, “the early bird gets the worm.” There’s also a George Allen Sr. quote, “work hard, stay positive, and get up early. It’s the best part of the day.”
According to some studies, people who get into work early and leave a little early are seen as hardworking and smart…they finished their work early. On the other hand, those who get in later and stay later are seen as lazy or dumb…they couldn’t finish their work! Even if these people are at work for the same length of time.
There are so many articles and blog posts surrounding the topic of “how to be a morning person,” suggesting that being a morning person is better, and how you should be one if you’re not. But I’m not a morning person, and I’m OK with that.
I’ve never been a morning person. For as long as I can remember, getting out of bed in the morning has been a struggle. As a kid, I LOVED school – I even got a county prize for perfect attendance from 3rd-12th grade! But it was SO hard to wake up in the morning. Whereas I got a surge of energy at nighttime, and rarely felt tired at what was considered to be an appropriate bedtime. And it’s been the same ever since. Now, it’s a battle every single morning to wake up for work…I actually feel kind of ill in the morning. And I wake up around 8am!
College was great. I avoided classes before noon, and went to bed between 2-4am. For me, it’s not the number of hours I sleep. If I go to sleep at 2am and wake up at 10am, I feel pretty good. But if I go to sleep at 10pm and wake up at 6am, I feel AWFUL. If I could go to sleep at 4am and wake up at noon, that would be the dream. Haha.
My sister Lily is the same way, and my parents aren’t morning people either. I used to feel really bad about it – my friends would tease me for wanting to push back plans for a few hours, or for declining early morning workouts. Ugh working out at 6am is my worse nightmare. But I’m not going to feel bad about it anymore.
If you think about it, we’re not all meant to be morning people. From an evolutionary perspective, it’s not in a group’s best interest to have everyone be on the same sleep schedule. For safety, some people would need to be on watch at night. Those who survived were the ones to reproduce, and whose genes continued on. There have been a lot of studies lately regarding your circadian rhythm. Everyone has a different one, and it’s not your fault if yours doesn’t match up with the majority of others. Check out this interesting article for more – it’s suggesting that night owls are discriminated against.
In fact, night owls are likely to die younger, and no, it’s not because it’s healthier to wake up earlier and go to bed earlier. It’s because night owls are stressing out their bodies, and forcing themselves against their natural inclination in an attempt to keep up with early birds. Isn’t that terrible?
There’s only so much I can do working in a corporate office (although I definitely really push the time I get in, haha). But one thing I can do is to not stress myself out further by worrying/feeling bad for not being a morning person. I try to follow my internal clock on weekends and holidays. And perhaps I should join this group, a society that supports late-risers 🙂
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic? Are you a night owl or early bird?
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