I. Am NOT. A. Morning. Person.
But let me just preface this with an announcement: I don’t have the actual “sleep-drunk” condition as described here:
Those who suffer from being sleep drunk, officially known as confusional arousal, have a hard time fully waking up. And once the sleeper is awakened, they feel severely disorientated. Sleep drunkenness is accompanied by confusion, strange or violent behavior and even amnesia about the events that occur after waking. Aug 26, 2014
But I dislike mornings. I dislike waking up anytime before 10am and rushing to be somewhere. I sometimes imagine how wonderful it would be to have a job where I work 11am to 6pm instead of 9-5 (yes, dropping 1 hour would be nice too.) By contrast, I can easily stay up til 1am in the morning on a regular basis. I am what is commonly called a Night Owl. The easy solution would to simply find a job on second-shift and solve this whole problem. Not a half-bad idea, actually. It would suit my introverted tendency.
Let’s explore this personality difference. How many of you would consider yourselves Night Owls? How many are Morning Birds? Are you groggy and disorientated in the morning? Or are you alert and energetic? What time of the day do you get your best work done?
I have noticed that there seems to be a lack of understanding between these two individuals – the Night Owls and the Morning Birds. In fact, it can become antagonistic between them. I’ve had morning people criticize me for not being able to wake up. “Just wake up,” they say. “Maybe if you wouldn’t hit the Snooze button so much, you’d wake up the first time.” Contrariwise, I have looked at them and thought, 4am!? How in the world do you survive!?
You have to realize this animosity is not reserved for this case alone. There are so many personality differences in the world, that instead of being open-minded and accepting, we close ourselves off. We seek out our similars and shun the differences. And, really, how hard is it to say, “Wow. You get up at 4am every day? I’m impressed. Hey, we should get coffee. I’ll stay up til 4am, and you wake up at 4am.”
That’s actually a ridiculous idea… I can’t stay up that late. 😉
Keep it real, keep it honest, and accept something different today.
Dream big!
Fanny T. Crispin
Written Things 