I work for myself, and I feel all of this so much!! I get all my best ideas at 9pm, and I need 9 hours of sleep. I was so nervous having a kid, but he sleeps until 7:30-8 (and therefore so do I), and I am SO THANKFUL!!! I also recently watched this video on Dr. Chatterjee’s page about regrets, and this doctor shared that he wished he cared less about other people’s validation and this need to be productive/successful from other’s POV’s and spent more time with friends/family and doing what he loved. That resonated so hard! I hate hustle culture so much!
Motherhood forced me to become a morning person (and a nice person in the morning, as I cajoled my younger son back into his room to quietly read/play at 5:45). It becomes the best once you overcome revenge bedtime procrastination tendencies and fall asleep at an earlier hour. These days, I can't keep my eyes open past 10 pm and have stopped fighting it.
You’re judging yourself Boo!!!! As Elsa says, “Let it go!!!”
I think we’re our toughest judges. I’m 51, single mom and professional. The more life experience I get, the easier it is to stop the “should”.
Doing what works for you is what you should do. Sounds like getting 9 hours of sleep, having a BF that you touch base at 10-11 pm means sleeping at 11-12= getting up at 9.
I have never been a morning person, and I like to read at night. If I get up before 9, that's early for me. I use to feel guilty, but now I don't. I've come to the conclusion that I get as much done as any morning person I know. There seems to be a lot of shame around being a night owl. I'm for embracing night owlness:)
The way I identify with everything you said about feeling lazy for being a sleepy person and a night owl! My natural sleeping hours are 1-2 am to 10 am (with an alarm 😬) . On the one hand, I love those few quiet and dark hours in the middle of the night but on the other hand mornings are so hard and I loath the implications that I'm lazy or even immature because of my body's internal timer. For years I've tried to adjust to a more normal cycle to no avail. Can't wait to hear more about how the adjustment goes for you.
I am a huge morning person, but it comes natural to me and I love it! On the flip side, I love to go to bed early and leave a party early. I sometimes fear that I’m perceived as “boring” for not being up for staying out late, much the way you fear being perceived as lazy. I don’t think there’s a right way to tackle your day as long as you feel good in your body and mind. And if that means sleeping in, I say hell yes to that 😄
I have a puppy about to be a year old who wakes up at 5:30. I quit my day job and opened my own gift shop last fall, and I found it’s not worth being open before 11. That means I have 5.5 hours in the morning! It’s enabled me to have a meaningful workout schedule for the first time in a long time, make a (pretty)healthful lunch, journal, and I get to take the dog for a walk and not get frustrated with her on timing for her sniffing needs 😄
Like Hitha, I get up early because of the responsibility of kids. But I've always craved my alone time due to my introvert tendencies. I found morning to be the best time to wake up, not have anyone demand anything of me, and I get to ease into the day, but like you said my creativity peaks later in the day. I don't necessarily want to be a night owl or early bird so much as I want intentional carved out time that makes the most sense with my rhythms. That's the dream, imo!
I grew up in a family where sleeping past 7 is considered sleeping in and so I always considered myself a bit lazy. I would however always get up 2-3 hours before all my friends on the weekend as a teenager. For a long time I was in a subconcious vattle with myself, wanting to identify as a morning person (like you said, it’s highly valued) but also really loving a cosy morning sleep in.
Currently I’m trying to get to bed at 10 and then read for about an hour because I want to get up at 7 together with my boyfriend and I also need 8 hours of sleep - at least. I’m yet to conquer the morning workout though…
As a night shift nurse (although soon switching to be a school nurse so a whole new & normal schedule which I cannot wait for!!!!), I identify as sleepy, and chronically feel jet lagged without all the fun of traveling somewhere 🤣. I used to be a morning person pre-night shift but now I just find I sleep whenever I can. I cannot wait to become a morning person again!!! My husband is a total night owl and he can kind of shift his hours. So he will go to bed around midnight, and starts his day around 8. I think you gotta do whatever works best for you and your schedule!!!!!! Sleeping in is definitely not lazy if you’re able to complete all the tasks you need to!!!
I identify as sleepy, too. My ideal routine would definitely be sleeping from midnight to 8am. That’s what I revert to on the weekends. But during the week I wake up at 6:30 and usually sleep by 11:30. It’s not quite enough for me but I can’t get to sleep any earlier. In the past I spent months trying to wake up at 6 and immediately work out but I hated my life. Some people are just not meant to be morning people!
I was never a morning person. Even when I had a little one and when I needed to get up for work.
I have read there are two kinds of people - those that wind up (night owls) 🦉 and those that wind down (morning people). 🌞
I def have to wind up... and I have to make myself go to bed before midnight and get up before 8. My deepest sleep is between 4 and 7 am, no matter what time I go to bed. My husband on the other hand gets up bright and early and is chatty kathy in the morning. I want to smack him. I need coffee and quiet.......🤫
So I live with a night person, and I am a morning person. My most productive hours are like 7-10am, and I'm fairly useless after 3:30pm. When i worked a really demanding job, getting up early to work was better than trying to work late. It sounds like you don't want to force it! Not all CEOs get up early, and as long as you're doing what you want to before you sit down to work. I really think that we should take the time when it works for us. My husband is good at doing household things at night, and he has taken the pre-1am feedings for our kids. I am much better at 5am, so I take most early morning wake ups.
Just to echo what others have said, you should just figure out what works for you! And embrace a consistent schedule. From what I understand, consistency is key to a productive routine.
Are you me? I feel like you were channeling many of my own thoughts around not wanting to be perceived as lazy! I have been a night owl since birth and when I was an infant, I totally reversed my day and nights. My poor Mum! In university all my best essays were written after 11 pm and I learned to adjust my course schedule to favour classes in the afternoon and evenings where I could. I've been in the working world for a long time now and have had to adjust my schedule to get up early (I like to have a good hour to sit, drink coffee and come to terms with being awake.) My most creative time is now from about 3 - 5 pm so I try to save all my detailed work for that time.
It's so opposite of my colleagues that I often feel like a freak. Glad to know I'm not alone!
I work for myself, and I feel all of this so much!! I get all my best ideas at 9pm, and I need 9 hours of sleep. I was so nervous having a kid, but he sleeps until 7:30-8 (and therefore so do I), and I am SO THANKFUL!!! I also recently watched this video on Dr. Chatterjee’s page about regrets, and this doctor shared that he wished he cared less about other people’s validation and this need to be productive/successful from other’s POV’s and spent more time with friends/family and doing what he loved. That resonated so hard! I hate hustle culture so much!
https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/chronotype-definition/
I found this piece helpful. Also, it seemed to not disparage any of the types.
Motherhood forced me to become a morning person (and a nice person in the morning, as I cajoled my younger son back into his room to quietly read/play at 5:45). It becomes the best once you overcome revenge bedtime procrastination tendencies and fall asleep at an earlier hour. These days, I can't keep my eyes open past 10 pm and have stopped fighting it.
You’re judging yourself Boo!!!! As Elsa says, “Let it go!!!”
I think we’re our toughest judges. I’m 51, single mom and professional. The more life experience I get, the easier it is to stop the “should”.
Doing what works for you is what you should do. Sounds like getting 9 hours of sleep, having a BF that you touch base at 10-11 pm means sleeping at 11-12= getting up at 9.
I’m not seeing the problem.
I have never been a morning person, and I like to read at night. If I get up before 9, that's early for me. I use to feel guilty, but now I don't. I've come to the conclusion that I get as much done as any morning person I know. There seems to be a lot of shame around being a night owl. I'm for embracing night owlness:)
The way I identify with everything you said about feeling lazy for being a sleepy person and a night owl! My natural sleeping hours are 1-2 am to 10 am (with an alarm 😬) . On the one hand, I love those few quiet and dark hours in the middle of the night but on the other hand mornings are so hard and I loath the implications that I'm lazy or even immature because of my body's internal timer. For years I've tried to adjust to a more normal cycle to no avail. Can't wait to hear more about how the adjustment goes for you.
I am a huge morning person, but it comes natural to me and I love it! On the flip side, I love to go to bed early and leave a party early. I sometimes fear that I’m perceived as “boring” for not being up for staying out late, much the way you fear being perceived as lazy. I don’t think there’s a right way to tackle your day as long as you feel good in your body and mind. And if that means sleeping in, I say hell yes to that 😄
I have a puppy about to be a year old who wakes up at 5:30. I quit my day job and opened my own gift shop last fall, and I found it’s not worth being open before 11. That means I have 5.5 hours in the morning! It’s enabled me to have a meaningful workout schedule for the first time in a long time, make a (pretty)healthful lunch, journal, and I get to take the dog for a walk and not get frustrated with her on timing for her sniffing needs 😄
Like Hitha, I get up early because of the responsibility of kids. But I've always craved my alone time due to my introvert tendencies. I found morning to be the best time to wake up, not have anyone demand anything of me, and I get to ease into the day, but like you said my creativity peaks later in the day. I don't necessarily want to be a night owl or early bird so much as I want intentional carved out time that makes the most sense with my rhythms. That's the dream, imo!
I grew up in a family where sleeping past 7 is considered sleeping in and so I always considered myself a bit lazy. I would however always get up 2-3 hours before all my friends on the weekend as a teenager. For a long time I was in a subconcious vattle with myself, wanting to identify as a morning person (like you said, it’s highly valued) but also really loving a cosy morning sleep in.
Currently I’m trying to get to bed at 10 and then read for about an hour because I want to get up at 7 together with my boyfriend and I also need 8 hours of sleep - at least. I’m yet to conquer the morning workout though…
As a night shift nurse (although soon switching to be a school nurse so a whole new & normal schedule which I cannot wait for!!!!), I identify as sleepy, and chronically feel jet lagged without all the fun of traveling somewhere 🤣. I used to be a morning person pre-night shift but now I just find I sleep whenever I can. I cannot wait to become a morning person again!!! My husband is a total night owl and he can kind of shift his hours. So he will go to bed around midnight, and starts his day around 8. I think you gotta do whatever works best for you and your schedule!!!!!! Sleeping in is definitely not lazy if you’re able to complete all the tasks you need to!!!
I identify as sleepy, too. My ideal routine would definitely be sleeping from midnight to 8am. That’s what I revert to on the weekends. But during the week I wake up at 6:30 and usually sleep by 11:30. It’s not quite enough for me but I can’t get to sleep any earlier. In the past I spent months trying to wake up at 6 and immediately work out but I hated my life. Some people are just not meant to be morning people!
I was never a morning person. Even when I had a little one and when I needed to get up for work.
I have read there are two kinds of people - those that wind up (night owls) 🦉 and those that wind down (morning people). 🌞
I def have to wind up... and I have to make myself go to bed before midnight and get up before 8. My deepest sleep is between 4 and 7 am, no matter what time I go to bed. My husband on the other hand gets up bright and early and is chatty kathy in the morning. I want to smack him. I need coffee and quiet.......🤫
So I live with a night person, and I am a morning person. My most productive hours are like 7-10am, and I'm fairly useless after 3:30pm. When i worked a really demanding job, getting up early to work was better than trying to work late. It sounds like you don't want to force it! Not all CEOs get up early, and as long as you're doing what you want to before you sit down to work. I really think that we should take the time when it works for us. My husband is good at doing household things at night, and he has taken the pre-1am feedings for our kids. I am much better at 5am, so I take most early morning wake ups.
Just to echo what others have said, you should just figure out what works for you! And embrace a consistent schedule. From what I understand, consistency is key to a productive routine.
5:45 alarm, 6:30 walk and talk with my sister, kid awake at 6:57. 72 minutes to myself in the morning makes me a better person, parent and partner.
Are you me? I feel like you were channeling many of my own thoughts around not wanting to be perceived as lazy! I have been a night owl since birth and when I was an infant, I totally reversed my day and nights. My poor Mum! In university all my best essays were written after 11 pm and I learned to adjust my course schedule to favour classes in the afternoon and evenings where I could. I've been in the working world for a long time now and have had to adjust my schedule to get up early (I like to have a good hour to sit, drink coffee and come to terms with being awake.) My most creative time is now from about 3 - 5 pm so I try to save all my detailed work for that time.
It's so opposite of my colleagues that I often feel like a freak. Glad to know I'm not alone!