Forcing the Square in the Circle Hole

[Insert attention-grabbing hook here. Yes, this was left intentionally.]

Hello again. In the continuation of this series where I throw things at the wall to see what sticks, we shall make an attempt at a more "structured" post. While thinking of what to write about next, I decided to take the suggestion from my favorite human and write about sleep.

This will not be about sleep quality, nor advice on it (though that could be a topic for a different time). The focus will instead be about sleep schedules. To give this piece a second theme, think of it as 5 AM vs. 5 AM (waking up at that time, vs. going to sleep at that time).

The Irony of My Paycheck

Knowing me, you’d be aware that I never miss an opportunity to talk about the irony in my job choice. I have managed to find myself in an industry that requires early mornings—all of them, always, all for an interest that doesn't quite fit with the rest. There is a deep, cosmic humor in the fact that my finances depends on me being functional at an hour when my soul is still no where to be found.

This is fine for most of the people I work alongside (They probably had the mental wherewithal to work somewhere that aligns with their schedules). They often mention how much they appreciate leaving early and "having the rest of the day." In my case? Let’s just say I don’t quite share in their enthusiasm for waking up with the sun. To me, "having the rest of the day" just means having more hours to question why I made the choice to work where I do and what questionable decisions lead me here.

The Wolf in a Bear’s World

One framework for thinking about this is chronotypes. My coworkers would be more in the "Bear" camp—solid, daytime-functioning humans. I, however, find myself aligning more with the "Wolf" type. You can read up on it here via UCLA Health if you want a light overview of what I'm talking about, but in a general sense, getting familiar with this framework can be useful if you find "traditional" ways of structuring your day don't work for you.

Similar to personality types, you can glean some wisdom from this. Maybe figure out why you feel like you have to wait until 11:00 PM to be a functional adult, and feel like a sentient pile of laundry at any point before 6:00 PM. Just try not to shape your whole life around these categories; people are much too complex to fit into a neat little box (and that goes for you, too).

Enough rambling, let’s get to the meat and spaghetti of it.