AM vs PM

I am by nature a night owl, not an early bird. Up all night and sleep all day. I have always preferred the afternoons and late night. Even as a child I can remember preferring to sleep late because I was up late.

I remember back when I was around 8yrs old my mother worked as a cocktail waitress at a local bar working the late shift. She would often not get home until 3am or later from work. Half the time I would be still awake when she walked in the door. She didn't always like it that I was still awake but I think part of me wanted to make sure she was home safe before I could fall asleep. Of course I had to wake up the next morning for school but kids at that age can often survive on short sleep once in awhile, at least I did.

As an adult I have spent most of my time working shifts that allowed me to sleep in every morning. I often worked graveyard shifts but whenever possible I would work the afternoon shifts. For years that was my routine and it worked well for me. I didn't see a lot of sun except when at work and I didn't socialize a whole lot except on my occasional weekends off. When I worked the afternoons my typical day consisted of sleeping till noon, getting up to run a few errands then off to work at 3pm. Sometimes I would sleep till 2pm and I would only wake up because I had to work that afternoon. I would be done work by 11pm and home by 11:30pm. I often would stay up until 4am watching all the TV shows I had recorded that day. My cat and I loved it.

Cats are by nature a bit more nocturnal than most people realize. My cat and I were two peas in a pod back then. She loved hanging out with me till the wee hours of the morning. We usually would sit on the couch while I watched TV or read a book as she stretched out across my lap getting attention. When we were tired enough I would crawl into bed and she would curl up either on my chest or beside me. It was nice.

Now a days things are different and I do not get to sleep in like I once did. Times change and life moves on.  If I can get away with it though I will sleep in to at least 10am every chance I have. On my days off I often do. I find that due to my relationship and the fact that my partner works the day shift, my personal life works better if I work the day shifts as well. The day shift does have many perks. The main perk is the sunshine on a wonderful day. I am HUGE fan of sunshine!

With my current work schedule I have to wake up around 6am about 50% of the time. The other half of the time I can sleep in till 10am or even 12noon if I really feel like sleeping that late. This has me staying up later than I should on the nights when my alarm is set for 6am the next morning. Most every night though I have trouble getting to bed before midnight unless it has been an extremely tiring day. This is all part of how my personal circadian rhythm work I feel.

The boyfriend often complains because he wakes up for 8am every work day and he is regularly in bed by 10pm. He likes his sleep. He wants me to come to bed and cuddle with him till he falls asleep; sometimes I will even fall asleep after him. Normally I will wait till he is asleep then I will go read my book or watch TV until I am tired. On the days that I don't have to wake up at 6am I will often be awake till 1am and that puts me back into the late nights/late days routine. I will wake up when he does to see him off to work, usually because his alarm has gone off and been snoozed 3times, then I am back to bed till 10am.

It is a routine that is working for me and us! So it is all good!

I am still a PM type person but for the right reasons I do adjust my pattern to more of a AM setup and it does work even if it isn't what I prefer. As I said it works for us.

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In case you didn't know what A.M. or P.M. meant:

a.m. - (Latin) ante meridiem/before midday or noon
p.m. - (Latin) post meridiem/after midday or noon