One of the first things I notice whenever I come home from college is just how surprised my parents were with how late I would sleep in each day. I never wake up before 10 unless I had an obligation that morning, such as work. And I know this is the case for many college students upon coming home from break.

But I don’t think this is a problem. My parents tell me I miss the whole day by sleeping in. But am I really missing the day if none of my friends wake up until about that time too? The concept of sleeping in is something that follows me wherever I go, but the time it stood out to me that this isn’t “normal” for everyone is when I came home for winter break.

Over winter break, I would wake up at 10 at the earliest, and wouldn’t come home from hanging with my friends until 2 the next morning. And in college this is totally acceptable. But at home my parents thought it was sketchy as hell. But is it really? Not so much. While they imagined worst case scenario of me out doing illicit things, I was actually most of the time just at a friend’s house more often than not watching Netflix of some sorts.

(above: what my parents thought I was doing i.e. picking up strangers on the side of the road)

(above: what I was actually doing i.e. Netflix)

Now, I thought a few times about trying to switch my habits so that I would wake up earlier and consequentially go to bed earlier, but that also did not make sense. Just because I would change my sleeping habits does not mean that all my friends would too. And I would never want to stop hanging out with my friends earlier because I was “too tired” to stay awake. So I just accepted that 12 was a normal time to be awake and I would promptly start my day around 3 after a trip to the gym and a shower. Breakfast faded to a myth and lunch became one of two meals I would eat in the average day. But that was fine by me.

Honestly, even though to some I could be considered an insomniac because I refuse to sleep before 1:30 am, I wouldn’t change my habits. I’m ok with not being ready to do anything until close to 3pm because realistically, none of my friends do anything before then either. These are some of the only opportunities I will have to have this internal clock, because once I enter the workforce I know I’ll be on that 9 to 5 grind every day.

And it’s not really even messed up for a college student. Realistically most people don’t go to bed before 11 anyways, even if you do have an 8am the next morning. Take advantage of the night while you can. As college student, this is basically our only time to do so. Go out and stay out late, enjoy the night. While the rest of the world might not condone it, who really cares? One day we won’t have the opportunity to sleep in as late, and that’ll be a shame. We don’t want to regret not taking these opportunities while we can. So let’s take them. Let’s stay out late. Let’s keep our internal clock messed up.