How many of you can’t fathom the thought of going to bed before 12? Better yet, how many of you typically stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning? How many of you when given the opportunity what sleep into noon or 1 p.m.? Now how many of you are in college and love to stay up late frequently during the week or on weekends? If the answer to all of these questions are yeses, then you are a college night owl. I know from recent experiences that I have noticed a trend where I go to bed a lot later than I used to and desire to sleep in much later in order to receive a fulfilling night of rest. So allow me to go into some detail of what a normal day and night is like for the night owl who happens to be studying at college.
Depending on what day during the week it is, if you are a night owl like me, you could find yourself wasting two hours in bed, surfing the web, or lost in thought during the early morning when you first get up. This is a guilty pleasure that I myself practice quite often which my parents find beyond aggravating since I have not completed anything productive and many hours have gone by. Now this is more common during the summer break if you are unemployed or during a break that occurs in the academic year. Obviously, if you have a job, or are taking an online course, then you’ll be able to accomplish a lot more during the day so that you can spend your evenings doing whatever you want. Now what are these late nights like for people like us? Well, if you are the extrovert and have a large pod of families to invite over to your dorm room or over to your house you could find yourself laughing and living it up way past the time that everyone else in your family has tucked themselves to bed. And even if you aren’t the most extroverted individual on the planet, you can still get carried away by hanging out with people who are considered close to you. What about for introverts? Well, for those who may prefer to keep to themselves, I know that when I have no one to hang out I will do one of five things. One of these things is to read through books that are catered to your interest, mine being related to cultures from outside the United States, especially Asian cultures.
You’d be surprised with how fast the time flies when you are immersed in skimming through pages that relate to a topic that you are passionate about. And again, if you are not interested in cultures, then find a book on a topic that you do care about and believe me, you will kill many hours absorbing information that is appealing to you in some way. Another thing you could do is have a text or Facebook conversation with a friend whose distance is considerably far away. This might not take up as much time; especially your friend may desire to go to bed at a more reasonable hour than you. However, you can also listen to music until either your phone loses battery or you are tired. You may find yourself staying up an extra hour because of the effects of the blue light. Another thing that you can do to keep yourself up if you are in fact a night owl is to watch movie clips on YouTube until you are tired.
And lastly, should you not be in the company of friends, and you have a vivid imagination, then you could stimulate some late night creativity and make up stories, or write through stream of consciousness until all of your remaining energy has burnt out like candlelight. Now, you’re probably thinking, “Robbie, I don’t need you to suggest what I do to entertain myself when I’m not with friends”. If that’s the case then you do you and relish every passing second, minute, and hour that you are awake. For as night owls, we have no set time to go to bed, since just like the birds that stalk rodents, gliding across the wind with razor sharp talons in tow, we live for the night and save the fun and festivities until after the sun has gone down and retired from a long day’s work.
