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Mornings & Me

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For some strange reason, early mornings and I have never been able to get along. As a child and a student, I used to stay up all night and study instead of waking up early to do so. I used to stay up the entire night, go to school and finish the exam and come home and sleep through the evening. I would wake up at night again and continue to study till the break of day. Holidays meant staying up all night watching movies or playing games and sleeping through the day. Thankfully, my parents did not impose any rules on us regarding a time to wake up and all that. They just let us be and do what we want. Since I was a good student, my studying pattern did not bother them at all. And I was very happy being the night owl instead of the early bird. Who wants to get to the worm when you can prepare pasta at night?

When I joined college, the classes started at 7.30 am in the morning. I did not think of it much while joining as I was very focused on securing a free seat for my graduation. The idea was to finish college by 2.30 pm and get home to study. I know, how stupid right? When the time came to attend college, I was in for a huge surprise. I had to wake up by 6 am and leave home by 6.45 am to make it to college by 7.30 am. Those two years of Pre-University college were the worst days of my life. Waking up early was a torture and more often than not I missed the first two classes and headed to college only by 10 am. I used to attend tuition in the evening anyway, so I picked up on the subjects. But those days where I had to attend a Chemistry lab at 7.30 in the morning made me want to pour sulphuric acid on the first person who wanted to talk to me.

I am at my crankiest best in the mornings. Waking up past 7 or 8 am is my thing. Once I wake up I do not like talking to people. I make a cup of coffee/tea for myself and sit down for an hour to read the newspaper. Only after this ritual is done, I talk to people and do my chores. Graduation college turned out to a stone throw away from home. It was one of the best engineering colleges in Bangalore and the teachers were very cool. Attendance was hardly mandatory. Even though classes started at 9.30 am, I made it to college only by 11. That is for the first two years. For the next two, I hardly went to college, except to attend labs. I sat at home and studied things myself. Engineering is not as tough as they make it to be. It is the stretch of the four years that makes it unbearable. Anyway, I finished my education by not being a morning person and scored really really well. By the time I left college I held a distinction and a job.

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When you are happy being a night owl, you don't care much about what the world thinks. When I started working, the bus would come to pick me up at 9.45 am everyday. For the four odd years that I worked in that particular office location, I missed the bus 6541234 times. Thankfully, my work place has no strict timings and I could go in past 10 am too. And so I did. After work, I used to get back home by 8 pm, finish dinner and sit down to read a book or watch TV. By 2 am, I used to hit the bed and wake up after 8 am. I loved my life and it was all working beautifully for me. Then I got married. People expected me to change my habits, but that was not a concern to me at all. I had been a late riser since twenty six years and there was no way I could change it over night. Most importantly I did not want to change it. I was totally fine with it as my new work location was only a stone throw away from home. My husband too had no problems with me waking up late and I continued to live my life the way I was comfortable with.

Till date this is who I am. I stay up late at night and wake up when my eyes allow me. My husband is an early bird and he is up before me. The earliest that I can wake up is 7 am, that is only if I have had a good night's sleep. I wake up by 7 or 8 am everyday, sit through my tea and paper routine and then head to the kitchen. I am a quick cook, so breakfast and lunch is done and packed within an hour and the vessels are all washed and dried and set up too. Once the husband leaves to office, I get ready and head to mine. My work starts at 11 am and I usually am in office by 11.30. It works very well for me. Waking up before 7 am is almost an impossible task for me. I do not mind waking up once in a while to go out for a trek or travel. Other wise waking up by 5 am is like asking me to cut my limbs off and crawl over three floors to my house. No sir, not for me!

I am not a morning person and I love it. I prefer watching the sun set over a sun rise. This habit of mine has worked beautifully for me until now and I doubt if I ever would turn out to be a morning person. I read in the papers about famous rich people being early risers and how waking up at 5.30 in the morning helped them change their life. I already have a wonderful life with a job I love, a passion I take care of and a husband who means the world to me. What's there to change?

Tell me about yourself. Are you a night owl or an early bird?

Comments

  1. Hi Soumya,
    So, we both are night owls. Living in a hostel so no one really mind the timings here. :D
    And gosh! Even I don't like speaking before having a cup of coffee or a tea.

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  2. Night owl for sure.. or even if I sleep early at night, I just can't get up early..!! I wasn't that bad early, but now.. it's kinda crazy.. it seems like an impossible thing to do if I have to do it everyday..! I have tried waking up for many times and it does works for me.. only if I am able to get up ..*conditions apply*.. ;) :P

    Cheers

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  3. :D
    I wake up early... but I don't talk to people until I have my cup of tea/coffee.
    I used to study late into the night too and then wake up at 7 :-/
    Waking up at 3 or 4 am for a road trip is easy and I look forward to it :D

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    1. Waking up early is like third degree torture for me :P

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  4. I am nocturnal too! I feel productivity would increase if my job allowed night shift! I can relate to everything you have said, here. :)

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  5. That's great that your work is flexible with start times. I used to be a night owl through school and college and uni here. But in the last 4 to 5 years, I've become a morning person. I'm one of those who wakes up at 5-530 and starts my day pretty positively. :) Remind me not to talk to you for an hour if I ever meet you in the morning. :P

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  6. I am a night owl all the way! I could have practically written this post! :)

    P.S. It's 3:34 am here, sleep eludes me and I am catching up on reading blogs! ;)

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  7. HEY! Scrolled through a few posts to find one of your "talk" ones where I have been known to leave pretty long comments at some point in the past haha :) Found one!

    ... looks like I am er, both? Never slept before a ridiculously late hour this is pretty standard for me, but unless I am nursing a hangover or I have slept at 6AM the night(?) before (which usually happens when friends are over) I am almost always up at 7AM. I think my body clock is so set to this hour, that it disregards what else is up with my brain at the moment. I do however need people to leave me alone and I tend to spend a long time just cuddling with the boys or thinking about random things, a mental to-do list sometimes if I am feeling super organized for the day. I don't get mad-mad at people when this me-time is interrupted, but I am pretty zoned out and unresponsive for all practical purposes haha :)

    How have you been?! :D

    Annie.

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    1. Hello then Annie! I so have missed your loooooong comments :D

      I probably should learn be be zoned out and unresponsive for the first hour of the day too :)

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  8. Is it you or is it me writing there.
    It was as if I have been penning down my thoughts.
    Loves it
    XOXO

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  9. Hi Fi. I am a nocturnal person. Studies I preferred doing late night. Ppl say early to bed n early to rise........ Well, it is not my cup of tea. Getting out of bed is a huge task wen I know it's only 7. Of course I hv got up earlier than that once in a blue moon. But if it has to be everyday activity, then I hate it.

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