Like Day and Night

I'm not a morning person with rare exceptions to that rule.  So let's first define a morning person. A morning person in my world is someone who is able to function to some baseline extent in the morning and carry a demeanor that is either equal or greater than their average personality.  I am not that person. I am intellectually less-abled in the morning; I am quite angry/bitter; I'm definitely not myself. 

So why is this? There are many reasons but I'll examine a few. First, waking up and starting your day early is the mark of a efficient and task oriented person. They will accomplish something that day. While I certainly can be efficient , somewhere between my procrastination tendencies and my anger at being interrupted from some sort of slumber is not compatible with this M.O.

Mornings also signal the end of night. I like the night. While this presents and excellent opportunity to explore my fascination with vampires, I'll table that for some other time. See, take the weekend of example. A productive weekend for me would consist of a good amount of studying and play time. Most nights I'll make my way to my cocoon around 1 or 2am. Then comes Sunday night.. where I can't fall asleep to begin with . Subsequently I'm awakened sleep deprived and with the realization that the weekend has ended and so has my fun and free time. The opposite is true with the first morning of some break. I remember how glorious it was to wake up on the first day of summer break. To know that I don't have to go school or have to do much at all...was glorious. Even better, if I wanted to, I could go back to sleep. This is becoming an increasing rarity as medical school disfavors breaks.

Lastly, mornings go with productivity and being an "adult".  Part of me ... perhaps a significant part of me wants to remain a child. I like staying up really late playing video games, watching movies or reading a book. There's nothing like driving with your windows down with some friends around 1/2a  with the windows down and music playing and very few if any cars around. It's like you own the night. When I worked in the ER as a secretary, the overnight shift (7p-7a) was so fun to work. The directors were gone and we were mostly autonomous. We did and said what we wanted and still got work done.  

I suppose I wrote this article because I realize I have to play  by the rules these days. The rules say you wake up in the morning, drink your coffee and make your way through the day. In medical school, our tests are in the morning, we round in the morning... we do pretty much everything in the morning.  I look forward to those precious days and weekends.. where I can own the night and drive with the windows down...