During my sophomore year in high school, my house (I attended a boarding school) awarded me with the “night owl” award. Notoriously known for staying up late and frequently pulling all-nighters, I confidently write all-nighters are fun and meant for adventure. Why not create a few memories now to share later when your sleep deprived self-wonders if the lack of sleep is in fact all worth it, smiling, realizing that every aspect of all-nighters have their upside.
- Procrastination- A five page paper on books you didn’t read because you didn’t want to, didn’t have the time, didn’t manage your time or whatever reason you may have has you up at ten at night assuring yourself it won’t happen again. Yet, you very well know that you’ll be in the same situation in about two weeks. Will you ever learn?
- Friendship- Honestly, about ninety percent of my all-nighters include the company of friends, or classmates suffering from the same bout of laziness or poor time management. Yet, this results in an opportunity for bonding and even new friendship. Some of the best stories shared occur at the late hours of the night, or crack of dawn, when sleep deprivation makes everything seem that much funnier. Struggling to finish that difficult assignment causing you grief, you finally exchange words with that quiet girl in your accounting class that sits behind you. You even discover she lives in your hallway, is actually very friendly, and willing to procrastinate with you on your adventure to McDonalds at one in the morning. Smells like another sleep is for the weak believer to me.
- Discovery & Adventure- All-nighters allows for discovery and adventure. Need a break from the solid ten minutes of work you’ve done? Why not adventure for food off-campus with some classmates at the twenty four hour McDonalds? Or how about take a walk through campus and explore. Don’t lose track of time though, you still have about four pages out of the five left to do. I’m sorry to say this, but the first page barely counts for anything anyway. Proper MLA heading format, the honor code at the bottom and a few topic sentences barely count for a full page. Make those two iced coffees and cheeseburger to go.
- Productivity- Finally, back from your adventure, with your new friends, get work done! Though scary, please look at the time, after all, time flies when you’re having fun. Let’s remember the reason for the all-nighter, getting assignments done. Last thing needed is lack of sleep accompanied by an incomplete assignment, a skipped class, and a miserable attitude overall. Get your work done, after all you need more sleep to repeat this cycle.
