You really don't adapt, you learn to exist in a state of perpetual and unending exhaustion that eventually reduces your personality from a vibrant cacophony of contradictions and peace into some grayed out and hollow mess of sarcasm and spite that people confuse with being nihilistic or pessimistic
I forced myself to sleep earlier by running the same sleep ritual every day, which signals my brain to shut down, then get up at the same time every day except Sunday. App plays pink noise for a half hour; cushioned eye mask, plus (niche but helps), tape on front of lips to force nose breathing.
Well, it sounds like you've made the decision to adapt. I'm sure you have colleagues who simply refuse to and tell their party leaders not to schedule a vote they're needed for before 11AM.
Gradually get yourself to wake up earlier all the way down to 6am or so. This time of year helps. Eventually some people come to adjust everything in the direction of that time and actually like the mornings better.
Over the years, I slowly learned to wake up early because I had to. But I will never be one of those people who wake up 2 hours earlier than I have to to meditate or do creative writing. I'm most productive in the early afternoon.
I stop electronics and start getting ready for bed at 11.
You wake up early, and loathe it. I don’t think I can adapt.
Caffeine helps, but only so much. Same with all the “sleep hygiene” stuff.
Basically I keep being a night owl until eventually I hit a weekend where the accumulating sleep deficit NEEDS to be corrected, and that’s a hibernation weekend.
I sleep from 3-7:30 - take my kid to school - then sleep from 8:30-12. I get my best work done between 9pm-2am, but I’m an independent artist so I can pretty much make up my own schedule.
Coffee, loud alarms, lucking into a job with flexible/later starting hours, and a regimented schedule of getting enough sleep to function well, but never enough (which for me is 5 to 6.5 hours a night) during the week and catching up on the weekends.
Have a kid, lol. It *completely* changed my sleeping pattern. I’m a natural night owl, and bartended for 13 years, so was a late sleeper for a long time and it worked. Was really challenging at first, but years later, and I’m up by 6:00 at the latest every day.
I tried to be a day person *for years*, and I can fake it for limited periods of time (a month), but give me 3 days in a row left to my own devices? I'm back to 3am-9am.
I also started my own business back in the day so I could work my own weird hours ("bartender hours" LOL).
be perpetually unemployable and rely on others to support us because the government has continually been built by a society that already doesn't care if we live or die for so many other reasons, we aren't who they want so they would rather see us dead than see us intrude on the world they dream of
Same. Although in my case the "insomnia" I always have to deal with is practically the least of my big mental health concerns.
Only reason I'm alive is because I married a dude my parents didn't know and they didn't care when I moved out and stopped seeing them more than once a year.
same really, it's just one of the biggest interface issues that's right at the surface of trying to be a part of society, most of the rest we've already figured out ways to deal with to some extent but it often feels like there's little point working on those further 🤷🏻♀️
I drink coffee to get myself up. But I'm caffeine sensitive so I sleep poorly at night. I could take drugs to help me sleep but that feels like a bad cycle to get into. So I push through and hope I'm cognizant enough to function. If I didn't have kids I could probably start my day later.
morning workouts *right* after coffee & then also you just have to establish to the larks around you that you Will Not Be Doing That until you’re ready to engage
I don't, frankly. No matter how hard I've tried, I've never been able to re-adjust my sleep schedule. It does make trying to find a job a massive pain in the ass though. I'd look for a swing/grave shift but since my husband works normal hours I'd never see him again and neither of us want that.
I wish I knew 😫 But you’ve accomplished more in the last 4 years than the rest of us will accomplish in our lifetime, so whatever you’re doing seems like it’s working ok!
You make due because there's no real alternative with a lot of jobs. I did that for decades between school and work until a few years ago (involuntarily). Constantly tired.
My office job is work from home (since 2015) so I can roll out of bed when it's time to work. I can stay up late and not have to get up 3 hours before work and then wander around, make breakfast, and then sit in traffic for two hours. I reclaim those three hours which allows me to stay up late.
i always ask for the earliest possible slot when making appointments. as for actually feeling awake, i don't usually have coffee in the morning. i love a really cold glass of water drunk while standing in front of an open window, looking out at the day
I realize now this is not useful to your situation. Honestly it was just caffeine and slowly getting used to having to work in a context that wasn’t always best for me.
I only wake up early when necessary. At all other times, I let my body and it's needs guide me. I also have chronic fatigue and other chronic illnesses/disabilities so I make sure to nap/rest as needed.
This is not advice I want you to heed, but bide my time until I could switch to a job where I was able to ease into the day more. DC is also a shit city for night owls, especially if you’re used to NYC.
I think if I hadn’t lived here first I would have liked DC a lot more. But it suffered in comparison. Best thing in DC was the music scene back in the day but I expect that’s probably not gonna be what gets room on your calendar.
Coffee and then sunken dark eyes.
Basically you really don’t make a full transition.
But it’s also a superpower when things hit the fan and you need to work long hours into the night.
not everyone can do this but i try to make sure all my obligations are in the afternoon when i can be confident in being awake. i’ve had huge sleeping problems since like forever so i’ve basically just learned to cope with it
I've been happiest when my work allows me to set my own sleep schedule and embrace being a night owl. I usually sleep 3am - noon (ish), which gives me a bit of time to wake up and run errands before places close + if I have to temporarily adjust to a "normal" sleep schedule it's not *too* bad.
I received a surgical implant in my retinas that displays minecraft parkour and subway surfers gameplay in the lower half of my vision to keep my brain stimulated at all times
Longer answer: you try to hack your way through some kind artificial hack that gives you some fake it till you make it energy for those early hours, and then find a way to nap around 2pm when the crash hits.
I was never a morning person until I left my first job at age 27 and decided to just read for a while. I ditched the alarm clocks and just woke up naturally. Over that next year I became a morning person(!) So, my real advice is basically sleep hygiene.
I feel the best dealing with mornings when I force myself to be lights out in bed at like 1030 every night. It’s currently 11:30 since I’ve fallen off the wagon lately, but that’s the goal at least!
Later start times at work are a massive blessing. Everyone thinks you're lazy if you're late. I am happy working later. My job right now allows some flex which works well.
Force myself up and stick to a routine that’s meaningful yet enjoyable in the morning. Weekends included. Despite being a night person, I do my best work in the morning.
I have a hundred helpful suggestions, none of which I've ever been able to implement for long enough to really know what I'm talking about. But as a West Coaster, spending a week or two in an east-of-me time zone is the easiest way.
Using https://Freedom.to to block prime internet distractions also helps.
• No TV, computer, cellphone in bedroom
• If NOT tired, read a book in the living room with dim lighting
• Excercise early in day, not within 5 hrs of bedtime
• No caffeine beyond noon
• Wake up with favorite stimulating music
• Full lighting on in kitchen
• 2 cups of coffee max to start your day
I was forced onto a morning schedule by a job where I work a 6-1 shift every day and I’m surprised how much I love it. At the end of the day, getting up at 5 AM doesn’t feel that much different than getting up at 7 to make it to an 8-5 desk job, and I have so much more of the day left over. 
That said! I had to spend my afternoons sleeping for the first couple of weeks until I adjusted. Squeezing in naps just to get through the day without extreme sleep deprivation is essential.
For a long time, I was a morning lark. Threw my entire sleep schedule off and became a night owl accidentally. I can do that (and work towards course-correcting) only because I work freelance, remote, my own schedule. Adapting?
This probably isn't all that applicable but having a kid made (forced) me into a morning person and to my own big surprise... it's totally ok? After a while it just changed and it's all good?
Serious sleep hygiene. Get up at whatever time you are aiming for, even if you don't want to. Eat something, to indicate to your metabolism that there's food here in the waking world. Try not to nap. Try to go to bed at the right time to get enough sleep if you wake up at your accustomed time.
Catch up with things in the evening when it's quiet and I can be most productive. Then I set my emails to go out the next morning so that a) I don't ruin someone else's evening and b) I look like I got up early 😏 I'm fortunate to have a job with pretty flexible hours.
Definitely not a morning person but since I have to drive to work, my incentive is beating the DMV rush hours. I HATE to experience traffic, so it’s mostly out of being a hater who likes the road to herself 😌
I get very little sleep, mostly. An occasional 8pm crash when the caffeine isn't enough. Pick personal styles that don't require a lot of prep. Were I in Congress, I would probably befriend/hire early birds who can smoothly cover when I am late.
Salaried. A lot of my best work occurs after work hours. So I often end up technically putting in way more than 40 hours of work every week when the mornings are a mental fog.
Making sure to go to bed before 1am because then its harder for (at least my) brains to sleep. Try not to have stimulants after noon or in the evening. And finally, just being okay if you still have slight night owl hours and that doesn't make you weird.
I think you kinda have to practice? Like, just retrain, consistency. I (gig vampire) got turned thru my partner who gets up super early. Now I am a morning thinker, early to bed. Not sure if your work affords you that grace but you can answer the same emails in the am as in the night so…
I'm grumpy in the mornings and sleep a lot on weekends because I go to bed too late during the week. Sometimes I sleep during the day when my brain shuts down, and then I sleep even less at night --> cf. sleep on weekends.
Not saying I recommend it, just saying it's how I cope.
I’m a writer who does all my best creative thinking between like 10 pm and 2 am, but unfortunately that shit does not pay the bills so I also have to like wake up and do things and have meetings
I freelance full time though so that gives me more schedule flexibility
Set multiple alarms. Plan the night before. Avoid early appointments when possible. Make it known you don’t answer calls early. Embrace cleaning at midnight because that is who you are.
Since I have a job with normal hours, my only choice is to be tired in the morning... I know that caffeine doesn't work to wake me up but that doesn't stop me from trying. On the bright side, it feels like work ends with a ton of time left in the day!
I started my current career working for an ISP, tech support, second shift. I moved to NOC work which was still second shift. By the time I could work "normal" hours I was on-call, not all the time but enough. Salaried work meant no holiday pay. Things are better now, I get holidays off. Takes time.
Having so many products and services I can educate on… it’s a good feeling. I was doing internet repairs but now I’m local dispatch. It’s really fun stuff
It is extremely fulfilling work, I like volunteering for holidays because the customers are actually extremely grateful those days. Beyond normal comparison. Its nice to hear “wow you changed my life on a slow day”
Working from home has certainly helped, but when I was an 8-5 cube drone, my coworkers learned not to schedule me for anything or generally just not speak to me much before 11
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(And freelance jobs with flex scheduling
And coffee
A lot of coffee)
Yes, I know this isn't very good advice.
I stop electronics and start getting ready for bed at 11.
Caffeine helps, but only so much. Same with all the “sleep hygiene” stuff.
Basically I keep being a night owl until eventually I hit a weekend where the accumulating sleep deficit NEEDS to be corrected, and that’s a hibernation weekend.
OMG A HIT SKEET
Becoolbecoolbecoolbecool
I also started my own business back in the day so I could work my own weird hours ("bartender hours" LOL).
Only reason I'm alive is because I married a dude my parents didn't know and they didn't care when I moved out and stopped seeing them more than once a year.
and, lol, same essentially
• Full daylight exposure, outdoors, within 20-30 mins of waking. Helps to set your clock.
• No caffeine until an hour after you wake, because of a morning cortisol spike.
• No caffeine after lunch.
• And the hard one: limit screens as bedtime approaches.
We want you at 100%! 💪
OK I admit for a Rep it's not very applicable.
Basically you really don’t make a full transition.
But it’s also a superpower when things hit the fan and you need to work long hours into the night.
The condition is called DSPD. Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder.
Longer answer: you try to hack your way through some kind artificial hack that gives you some fake it till you make it energy for those early hours, and then find a way to nap around 2pm when the crash hits.
All of the pain and tears just fuels my writing and disdain for the injustices of the world.
Using https://Freedom.to to block prime internet distractions also helps.
• If NOT tired, read a book in the living room with dim lighting
• Excercise early in day, not within 5 hrs of bedtime
• No caffeine beyond noon
• Wake up with favorite stimulating music
• Full lighting on in kitchen
• 2 cups of coffee max to start your day
Joking, I just suffer
A little factoid I remember from the book is that early birds make ~4% more over their life time.
I’m incapable of shifting my circadian rhythms to be a morning person, but good luck to everyone else.
Caffeine. >_<
I have not mastered waking up. I don't so much "wake up" as "return from the dead, still mostly dead."
I watch a ton of movies
or i whack the snooze button too much
Also a lot of coffee 😂😂😂
Not saying I recommend it, just saying it's how I cope.
I’m a writer who does all my best creative thinking between like 10 pm and 2 am, but unfortunately that shit does not pay the bills so I also have to like wake up and do things and have meetings
I freelance full time though so that gives me more schedule flexibility
Bullshit. It’s been like 20 years.
Every night it’s a fight with myself to go to sleep at a decent hour, and every morning it’s a feat just to get out of bed to not be late for work.
I hate it.
The downside is holidays
I don’t get them
And yeah, because I'm Jewish I would volunteer for all the Christian holidays. Extra pay and doing something nice for people.
At some point I had a dream of working for an Aussie or New Zealander company so I can basically work bar hours after a day in the sun but alas.
Never needed into work and no meetings before 11am on any day 🙌