Dance With the Moon

I’ve fought against my natural sleep rhythms for decades. Who knows why. Societal pressures, the early bird gets the worm, corporate acceptance, my spouse’s patterns. It really doesn’t matter. What’s important is that I’m finally taking a stand.

I’M STILL A GOOD PERSON
EVEN THOUGH I LIKE TO GET UP AFTER 9 AM (OR SO).

(Whew!)

Life was great during my first job out of college where I worked as a desktop publisher at Arthur Andersen. My hours were Sunday through Thursday from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. It wasn’t the best job (I was fired for “insubordination” after a year and a half), but the schedule was ideal while it lasted.

After that experience, all of my other jobs had the more traditional day-time hours. As I climbed the corporate ladder, my roles allowed more flexibility, including being able to work from home occasionally. But still, I needed to get at it by 9 a.m. and often earlier for those awful morning meetings.

I’m now a freelance writer working from a home office. I’m my own boss. So why was I still forcing myself (unsuccessfully) to rise early and shine? I took 6:15 a.m. yoga classes twice a week, set my alarm for 7 a.m. the rest of the time. I struggled.

Then I read Peter Bowerman’s, The Well-Fed Writer, where he confessed his night owl nature.

10:06 a.m. The phone rings. It’s one of my clients getting back to me on some ad copy I faxed them late the night before. My spoon is poised over my just-poured-the-milk-in bowl of cereal as she asks if I can go over a few revisions. Getting up from the dining room table and heading north to my upstairs office, I hedge briefly, even letting a tiny whine escape my white-mustachioed lips.

Should I come out of the closet finally? Living this lie has become unbearable…. Taking a deep breath, I begin….

So, fellow nocturns (new word), stand firm and be proud. And remember: To rise with the sun is human, but to dance with the moon is divine.

Amen!