Early Riser

'Sleep is the best meditation.' -The Dalai Lama

I find myself up early in the morning quite often because of my job.  There are times when I go into work at 2:00 in the morning.  Other times are more manageable such as 5:00 or 6:00.  It is funny to think about because as a child and teenager, never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would find a career that would have me work so early.  But then again, does any young person think the world starts before eight o'clock in the morning? 

When I was in high school, I had a job as a lifeguard.  Our pool had an early morning swim time that started at 5:00.  That was super early in my mind, because it was 5:00.  I only worked one or two days a week.  I had the toughest time getting up for it.  Mainly because I would stay up late doing things like reading or homework.  The alarm would go off and I would struggle to get up. 

In college, the best advice that I got was have classes that were at least an hour apart, no more than fifteen credits per semester, and no class before 8:00 AM.  Solid advice that I didn't fully understand until I had to book it across campus a few times because I didn't listen and had classes in different buildings thirty minutes apart.  The 8:00 rule was a no brainer.  Who wants to get up that early and learn stuff?  Nerds.  That's who.  The first semester of my freshman year, I had a couple of 8:00 classes because you didn't get to choose your class schedule.  After that, I didn't have one single class that started before 9:00 or somewhere in that ballpark. 

After I graduated college and made my way into a professional career, I found myself gravitating to early morning work.  My job started at 7:00 in the morning.  I was done by 3:00.  After a month of this, I came to the realization that early morning work was great.  You could get a lot done before having to interact with people.  Not that people are terrible (sometimes they are), they are more of a hindrance when you are working on a big project.  Now I work even earlier than that from time to time.  Plenty of 5:00 o'clock shifts make up my work week and month.  Even earlier shifts are sprinkled in there. 

With all of the early morning work, early bedtimes are included in that.  This is the one downside.  As we roll into summer, I will go to bed sometimes while it is still light out.  It isn't too tough to fall asleep because I've gotten into the pattern of going to be early and getting up early.  Sure there are days when sleep is elusive, but they are few and far between.  I would say two or three times a month I have trouble sleeping and only get a few hours.  Other than that, getting six or seven hours of sleep are normal and it has come to the point where eight hours of sleep seems luxurious.   

Looking at it all, I think that the earlier you get up and work the better.  You finish with your day in the early afternoon and have the half the day to get stuff done around the house.  Or to watch baseball.  Or to nap.  Guys, naps are the best.  I never anticipated being someone who worked super early in the morning because I loved sleep so much, and I still do now.  Getting a great night's sleep makes you feel like a new person.  It is fun, though, to drive to work before the city gets up and moving.  To see empty parking lots and silhouettes of buildings before the day begins is kinda cool.