Not a morning person: A Cautionary Tale
I have an evil twin.
Unfortunately for me, her name is also Christa. She sometimes rules the mornings in my life.
I tried to lose her but she found me every time.
Mornings. Ugh.
The glory of a sunrise as it casts its first golden rays on the horizon, the sounds of spring outside the window as birds greet the day, a joyful heart…
Hold up! Those are wonderful things, and I try oh so hard to appreciate them. I do. The problem lies in the time slot this all is set to happen.
I’d like mornings so much better if they started later.
I have been participating in a group challenge to get up earlier for 30 days, developing the awesome habit of a more effective life. The principles are excellent.
Today I am wondering if perhaps some habits are not worth creating. Not for all people.
Night owl vs. morning person
I am a night owl.
That is when my senses are in full swing, my creativity peaks; the quietness while my family sleeps fills me with gratitude and delight. Serious joy in my heart. I have been unsuccessful in transferring that to daybreak.
Today, for example, I woke up at 3:30 and desperately tried to go back to sleep. Gave up at 5:30 and thought I’d greet the morning with quiet time and productivity.
Instead, (I who love birds and delight in their songs) am harboring murderous thoughts about each and every morning singer out there.
If I had an alarm clock named Fred (as suggested in the challenge), I would go open the door, place it behind my tire and back over it. Twice.
Forget reading, it doesn’t work with blurry eyes
I decided to take my morning walk and cruelly stepped over the struggling worms on the sidewalk. Regular me actually stops to gently put them back on the grass, with pity in my heart.
Not today.
And the song that keeps playing in my head? Argh. It was in the movie Joyful Noise which I watched last week. “I’m in love with a stripper….” I am in love, not with a stripper and I resent the intrusion into my musical thought life.
Plus I’m in women’s ministry.
To my shame, my evil twin is well-known by anyone who has spent a very early morning with me.
Pray for my poor family
My parents had the delight of 17 years of mornings. They would tell you I seldom jumped out of bed with a.m. anticipation.
My husband has had 25 years to develop a fear of the “other” Christa.
He told me a story once (I can’t believe I am sharing this, but I am hoping to free the others) about forgetting a pair of socks for work as he went down to breakfast. He was afraid to come back for them.
I laughed, nervously, waiting for the punch line.
“Christa,” he said, “you are the kindest most loving person in the world. Until you get woken up in the dark. Then your head, I am pretty sure, starts spinning like the exorcist and I debate if the socks are worth it.”
Um, sorry? I never even remember these exchanges! But we do laugh a lot. Maybe that makes up for my early morning temperament?
My kids tell me they stay clear of me with a 10-mile radius when I get too little sleep. Friends that call before nine, well, sometimes that twin of mine isn’t good at faking a sweet disposition.
In spite of all this, I am much-loved. Go figure.
Why must productivity come in the morning?
I might have to quit my group. Now I dislike mornings AND challenges.
I feel fraudulent. I love life, living is an amazing gift. I do prefer to live from 9 am to 1 am though, if I had my druther.
No shame, habits, lectures, guilt or even prayer thus far have made me a morning person.
But nights, oh, the delight!
So I wonder, just because we can develop new habits, does it mean we should?
**No one was harmed in the actual making of this morning
Morning helps
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Not everyone is a morning person. It’s funny how some of the experts insist the best time to be creative is early. For me, this happens to work because it’s the only time my four kids will all leave me alone. If I could have that quiet focused time at 10 am without getting in trouble with my work, I would do it in a heartbeat.
The key is to find and make time to do the things that matter the most. To live our lives, not be lived by our calendars.
Oh, and I had to kill my evil twin Morning Chris. Maybe this is sacrilegious, but he won’t stay dead. He resurrects about once a week. Sometimes more.
You should start a group called Creative Night Owls. Or maybe, Kill the Morning.
Funny, funny. How about a book, “When the sun sets?” I like Chris’s idea, Creative Night Owls.
I’m sure this is the reason I have such a difficult time coming up with posts early in the morning. I like the thought of getting up much earlier; however, getting my brain in writing mode doesn’t seem to jive. I’m finding that anytime during the day can spawn a post. Writer, know thyself.
Oh my gosh Christa you’re killing me. How about if we start a group called the Stay Up Late Support Group, would that work for you? I really don’t want to picture you with your head spinning around like that scene from the Excorcist. I’ll even stay up late with you.
It is hard to imagine, but they all exchanged a knowing look when I told them what I was going to write about 🙂
Too funny, Christa! I’m a night owl too. I am not quite that bad off in the early mornings though. LOL I can not picture your head spinning.
I am more creative at night as well since that is when my brain won’t shut off to sleep. All the deep thoughts from the day have just begun to surface and it is finally quiet enough in the house to write it all down.
I tried saving those thoughts until the next morning but then they are all gone. So I just do my best. I must say I’ve done much better after reading the book and joining the group. 🙂 It’s definitely been a fun adventure.
Maybe moms get that mental wind when the kids are asleep 🙂 When mine were younger no matter how early I got up, they woke up soon after
I LOVE this!! I tried the morning person thing and failed miserably. I think I am allergic to mornings.
Yes, I must be-thus I have a reason to avoid them now. Early morning pollen, must avoid. 🙂
Spectacular post!
Christa, my darling friend. There is a reason we are kindred spirits.
When the kids were little, I tried to be a “good” mommy, like the other good homeschool mommies, and get up before the kiddos for quiet time. Those two times I tried, it, they heard me and got up with me.
I am not, nor will I ever be, a morning person. I am not lazy or stupid. I am creative, imaginative, and resourceful….starting in the late afternoon. I cannot, nor will I ever succumb to suggestion that I ‘should’ try to change it. Embrace the dark side….
Christa,
Loved your post. Such honesty taking an owl step in the company of those morning birds. But, please don’t hate us. I am a morning person. And since being in the TribeWriters I did get up earlier. This was before Andy’s book! But, it’s because I’m wired this way. My husband on the other hand is a night owl. He also has a sleep disturbance so sometime his days and nights get switched. That has made for an interesting life.
I think the fact you came forward and admitted it is freeing not only to you, but to other night owls as well. My daughter is more like her dad. Andy’s book is great and it will really help people find that extra time to write, and for those who are night owls maybe they will find that time somewhere else in the day. I loved your descriptions and your humor. And it resonated with me because of existing with two night owls. For me, I am most alive in the morning and by the end of the day I fizzle out. I have tried to be a night owl, but I’m not wired that way. And I’m okay with it. Thanks for the laughs, they were great.
Very good! I am not a night owl. I find myself falling asleep on the sofa shortly after supper and dishes and such. Especially if the family puts on a movie. I haven’t watched an entire movie in years! Find your creative time where it finds you. Life has more “margins” than just the wee morning hours.
I am not an early morning person. But I get up at 6:30 every day to either gather my grandson and take care of him for part of the day or to greet my daughter as she just stops buy on her way to work. I manage ok unless like last night, I woke at 3:00 a.m. and barely feel back asleep only to have my alarm go off. I wanted to pull the covers back over my head and sleep. What kept me from that? My grandson will be here any minute and I have to be up.
I am also not a night owl but really really need my eight hours of sleep.
Amen, girlfriend! Preach it!!
Long version: I’m so glad to read this-I have PTSD and struggle with intrusive thoughts about something always being “wrong” with me. I’ve convinced myself of everything from being a cheater to schizophrenic, bipolar, a pedophile-you name it I’ve convinced myself I have “it” and it’s a matter of time before my evil-ness comes out full force and my husband leaves me.
They say this is normal, for my situation. I’m trying to accept that seemingly paradoxical information.
So anyway, once, at 2am, I read an article about how more psychopaths were night owls than early birds, and immediately decided I was a soon-to-be-psychopath, recounting every bad thing I’d done to someone and every bad thought I’d had. I looked myself in the eyes to see if I had the eyes of a murderer (whatever those look like.)
As I write this I’m 40% proud of myself for the progress I’ve made so that I don’t often have negative ruminative spirals such as this too much anymore, 30% embarrassed of my inner crazy, and 30% amused at the sheer ridiculousness of it.
All that to say, I was reading through your blog, came across this one, and started laughing. I’ve never been a morning person (I wasn’t even born till 11am, despite my mom going into labor hours before-that’s the family joke.) It’s something that has always bothered me. I always thought something was “wrong” with me for being a night owl, for liking the quiet and creativity that happen at night. I always felt guilty for getting good ideas in the evening, and would shut them down till the morning-when naturally I was way too grumpy to make good of them. Early birds are revered, night owls are assumed to be spooky.
Obviously, this natural insecurity is what allowed that obsessive thought to take hold, an already shaky foundation. But now I’m happy to say that my husband puts on a light-blocking eye mask when he turns in at 10, and around 11:30 I join him-after I’ve read or done “research” (read: Pinterest). He accepts that I need my coffee, and has learned to deal with me without ever making me feel like I’m in need of being “dealt” with. I’m beginning to slowly accept this tendency and now I’m rambling and being a me-monster but all that to say…
Short Version: I like this blog and relate to it immensely. Please continue posting relevant content.
Thank you for sharing your long version, and your short one 😉 Welcome, hope you can ease the late night hours with me again