My Upside Down Life

I actually think I was born in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean -- the time zone there fits my biorhythms better. That is, ever since I was a kid, I naturally awaken between 4 to 4:30am, every day. Even weekends.

On weekends when I wake up, I just snuggle closer to my partner and drift in and out of dreamland for a couple hours until he wakes up about 5:30 or 6. Weekdays, we both get up no later than 4:30.

I have always been that way -- rising early and then getting to bed by 8:30 at night, or 9 if I'm stuck in a meeting or something.

I am lamenting about my biorhythms being out of whack with the rest of the world that I work with in my community. They have meetings and events that I attend that begin at 7pm if I'm lucky, or 7:30pm, which is more common. Most meetings are well-planned, and last just about two hours. But that's 9:30pm! Too late for me. I often get up from a meeting if it's still going on at 8:45pm and leave. After that, I can't think well and I am just too tired to press on. (or want to.)

This is one reason why I will never run for office or become an elected official. The hours that they have to work never coincide with my biorhythms. It's also a reason why I don't attend some meetings or events to which I am invited -- including those infernal fundraising dinner-dances. Seriously, I never quite could handle "late."

And it's another reason why I never really went out much to gay bars and such -- "gay time" is shifted several hours later than most other's time anyway... so there's no way I can handle staying awake that late (which seems to me like "all night.")

I honestly feel that my world is upside down. Everyone else seems to wake up around 6 or 7, and manage to stay awake until 10 or 11. I'm two to three hours "ahead" of everyone else. When they set meetings and events, they do it because it accommodates the schedules of most others. But not me.

I know other people who tell me that they get up early, but also stay awake until the wee hours of the morning. They claim that they only "need" four or fewer hours of sleep each night. They seem to manage, but I often wonder how they function. I certainly can't manage on such a little amount of sleep each night.

Gay guys seem to keep really late hours when they surf the 'net. About 30% of visitors to my website from the U.S. are visiting between midnight and 4am, Eastern Time. I won't comment more about that -- you can arrive at your own conclusions about that observation.

Well, anyway, I will just accept the fact that what they told me when we were in Australia is correct: our seasons are backwards, our hemisphere is upside down, and our time is all off. Perhaps my friends from the Land of Oz are on to something.

Life is short: (get some sleep!)