Getty Images
When I was a child, I was a major morning person. I was almost always up before my parents. It helped that I was incredibly independent too. Before my mother even opened her eyes, I would have been up for a couple of hours - teeth brushed, hair combed, tummy full with Cheerios, and maybe even a little extra time watching Romper Room.
In high school, I started to lose my early bird ways. Having a part-time job that didn’t finish until after 10pm and a boyfriend who I just always had to call before I fell asleep translated into rushed mornings to get to school on time. Don’t tell my mother, but my senior year in high school I was tardy to my first period class over twenty times in a single semester.
By college I had lost any notion of being an early bird. Late night parties, hanging with friends, midnight movies, and all night raves made sleeping in until after 11am a standard occurrence (ok and there was some studying in there too). Whenever my dad would call around 9am on a Saturday morning, I tried my best to hide the fact that I only went to bed a mere three hours before.
But it wasn’t until I became a mother that I became a bona fide night owl.
The night has become MY time. Once my son would go to bed, I seemed to have an eternity of time to myself. 9pm to somewhere after Midnight became the time to get in extra work, check in with my counterparts in the UK and Singapore, watch a little TV, and even blog. I’d be up for hours finishing things that needed to get finished.
When I collapsed into bed after midnight, I was exhausted but satisfied. My mind wouldn’t wander into what still needed to be accomplished. I think I must have fallen asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
Nowadays with a project on the brink of being complete, the second shift is the most productive part of my day. It’s always been the way I keep flexibility in my work schedule. It typically allows me a stress-free evening with my son. I can unplug without guilt, knowing that come Darius’ bedtime, I’ll be back online to finish up.
These days I rarely make it out of bed before 7:30am. After speaking with another working mom who gets up at 5am every morning, I realized that whatever early-bird habits that I had as a child are totally gone. I’m a night owl.
And that’s ok with me. I never liked worms much anyways.
Robyn Roark writes the Full Time, All the Time blog at Work It, Mom!, an online community for working moms.
