Struggles of a Night Person Who Loves Sleeping

As a kid, I loved sleeping and waking up early. That meant me getting to see my fave cartoons and having taho. I loved going out of the room and seeing the light pass through our door from the terrace and embracing me, as if giving me warmth. I still love the rays of the sun until now.

That changed when the internet came into my life. I’ve been virtually living on this world for 12 years now. I was one of the pioneers of Friendster, even Facebook. Remember ISP Bonanza? Remember how you hated when someone picked up the phone because you get disconnected every time? I was so fond of it because it gave me free internet access in the wee hours of the night. That triggered my so-called insomnia.

I traded sleep with the internet. I went through Friendster and Multiply, searched for cute wallpapers, edited pictures. It was also a factor that my best friend left for Canada and the time difference is 12 hours. We chatted through Yahoo! Messenger and would take pictures through our webcams, putting the windows side by side to make it “look” like we were in one place; eventually it turned into voice calls.

That started my “journey” as a night person. I am awake mostly in the evening until dawn. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like sleeping because I do! And that is also why I wake up late.

My brain won’t function as better in the afternoon but whenever it is the perfect time to hit the sack, I come up with these bright ideas and get this itchy feeling to do it. Regardless of what they are.

So let me tell you how this works and what it feels like. (And how to hopefully stay away from deprivation because it is counterproductive.)

1. Believe me, I tried fixing my sleeping pattern but it just doesn’t work.

There was a time in my life, the very recent one, when I was awake for 36 hours straight because of one thing: I CANNOT SLEEP. I wasn’t even doing anything the night before, only tossing and turning in bed. To add to that, my friend Clauii and I were due to go to a company to follow-up for internship. We initially planned on going to two but because I already felt like I was floating, we decided to just go home in the afternoon. Upon arriving, I felt so alive and super hyper. I thought, “fine, okay! I’ll just sleep in the evening so my body clock goes back to normal.” But boy was I wrong! You know what time I finally dozed off? One freaking AM.

2. Morning classes?

I had a night schedule during my first year in college. When I shifted courses, I was lucky to have had the chance to create my own schedule. But because it is inevitable to not get an earlier class due to conflict of subjects, I enrolled in one or two. 9AM is already early for me, what more 7AM!! LOL. I almost received an FA for one class. Phew! Thank God it’s done!

 3. People waking me up in the morning for non-life and death situations.

I’m just exaggerating. I hate it when my mother wakes me up just to ask for her brow makeup that I borrowed. (Okay maybe I am the problem, I should have given it back to her.)

4. “You’re the only kid I know who sleeps this late.” —my Mom

Uhm, Ma, I am the only teen (post-teen, alright!) here in this house. Most of my friends tweet, like, share, post in the wee hours of the night as well. You just don’t see them  because 1) we don’t live with them and 2) you’re not friends with them. Okay? Okay.

5. Exams tomorrow and because I’m a night person, I can do an all-nighter.

NOT TRUE. I don’t get it why I get really, really sleepy whenever I attempt to study. But whenever my phone lights up, it goes away. Really self, really?!

6. Coffee works…

During times I don’t need to sleep late. And coffee doesn’t work at all when I need it the most. (P.S. This is just me.)

7. Food schedule gets ruined too.

My lunch becomes my breakfast; my merienda is my lunch. Dinner is to merienda; as to midnight snack is to dinner. You know the drill.

8. It’s an insult to have been told to sleep earlier than your “usual” sleeping time.

I tried reading and watching a movie, which both makes me sleepy in the afternoon. DIDN’T WORK. My mother tells me to pray when I can’t sleep and I don’t see the logic in there. What if God wants me to stay awake because I need to think about an important issue in my life, or to ponder on life itself?!

9. You think about sleeping pills but too scared you might oversleep or not wake up at all.

My friend suggested Sleepasil, which is 100% natural. My first two tries, it was successful. I took two tablets each night and I would wake up happy and feeling positive about life; even if it meant me leaving the bed early. But after those, it didn’t to its job anymore.

So the next time you see somebody groggy or if you know somebody who’s exactly like me, be supportive of them. Don’t ask them why. Just be there for them. Hahahaha!

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