If you have been around for a second, you know that I did a sleep study this summer (wires on the face and all) because I have some nice sleep problems. I have always been a tired person because I tend to overbook myself and say yes to everything only to find my "me-time" to be at 11 at night.
And my "me-time" happening at 11 at night is just not going to fly this semester in college. This semester I am taking my Foundations block for the Education Department at Gustavus (honestly, who knows if I capitalized the right letters in that last sentence) and that includes an 8:00 am or 8:20 am class every day of the week.
To my peeps out there that have full-time jobs/are high school students, I may sound dramatic. But let me give you some background. I have had one 8 am in college thus far and I am in my fifth semester of college. So, this isn't my first rodeo and my habits from the previous semesters were based around the fact that I could sleep in/stay up late to do the things I love and/or like.
In a previous post I detailed one of my less-busy days in college and you can check that out to get some more details about what I'm talking about in terms of my personal level of business. But if you're more of the "let's speed through this" type of person here's a shortlist of the things I've involved in (not including classes): Vice President of the Women's Rugby Team, Parent Coordinator for Big Partner Little Partner, Opinion Columnist for the Gustavian Weekly, Content Creator for HerCampus Gustavus, managing the Gustavus Education Instagram (@gaceducationdept), managing my own bullet journal account (@basicbujogal), working in the Gustavus Writing Center, working in the Gustavus Education Office, play trumpet in the Gustavus Wind Symphony, socializing, and self care (in no particular order). And I am not trying to be dramatic or attention-seeking by saying what I'm involved in, I just want to give y'all the big picture.
So you are probably wondering: what does this have to do with staying awake? Well, it has everything to do with staying awake, my friends. Because my body was conditioned to stay up late to tack on those last two things in my recurring to-do list outlined above: socializing and self care. I will be the first to admit that although I preach about self care and its importance, I am not great at prioritizing it during the day (when it "should" be done). I was hit in the face with this my very first day of this semester.
Picture this, it was a Sunday night, I had just finished getting unpacked from my two-month stay in the exotic Rochester, Minnesota, and was watching whatever show was playing on the TV (it very well could have been Bob's Burgers or Criminal Minds) thinking nothing of it. And suddenly I looked at the clock and it was 11:30 at night. If it were to be last semester (my earliest class was at 9), I would not have thought twice. 11:30? 8 hours of sleep would be no problem. But as soon as my Google Calendar reminded me that I had an 8 am in my near future, I realized I would be a sloth the next day no matter what. And I was proven correct, unfortunately. I woke up with a pounding headache because I got about 6 hours of sleep (according to my Fitbit) and my body wanted (okay, needed) caffeine and more sleep. I remember literally saying "oh my god" out loud when my alarm started beeping. My roommate can attest: I do not like mornings, and I like them even less when I get 6 hours of sleep.
So you may be wondering--how did you manage to stay awake? And the truthful answer is that I drank three cups of coffee (very, very large cups of coffee) and vegged out on the couch for 3 hours after I finished my third class for the day. I legitimately did nothing for the rest of the day. And that was the learning experience I needed to begin my attempt at beginning a "morning person".
For those of you who care (probably two of you: shoutout to my mom and Corbyn), I have been pretty successful thus far during this difficult life change. I have been in bed ready to go to sleep by 10:45 more nights than not and woken up with one (1!) alarm most days. Just you wait, there will likely be a story about my failed attempt at becoming a morning person in a couple of weeks. But, for now, we're optimistic!
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