Maybe all of the above. I realized over the weekend that I don’t really know a whole lot of morning people. People who get up early, as pretty incapable of sleeping in for more than eight hours tops, and are productive, active, and can often find solace and comfort in the relaxed hours of the day in which there’s a good chance that a lot of people are still sleeping.
I am one of these people. I take a lot of enjoyment in the early hours of the day in which I am often times in my own head and thoughts, and I feel like I can take my time and do, things, at a leisurely pace, thus being vastly more productive than when amidst other people.
This isn’t to say that I am not a night person, quite the contrary, as I do love good times at late hours, and don’t hesitate to stay up until three in the morning if the circumstances allow for it. It’s just when my head hits the pillow, if I don’t set an alarm, 7-8 hours typically suffices for me as sleeping in, as somewhere around 5-6 is the norm for me otherwise.
But there’s something so wonderful in the early hours of a weekend morning, when I can nurse a cup of coffee while I do things as leisurely as sitting at my computer and reading the news and catching up on social media, rolling my eyes at political affairs and the insufferable amount of passive-aggressive humble-bragging everyone does over Facebook, or things like stepping outside with the dog or doing some minor cleaning and straightening up at a calm pace.
It’s these rare mornings in which I feel at ease and take a tremendous amount of pleasure in easing into the day. A second cup of coffee, a bagel or a pastry if I’ve prepared for the morning. In the rare instances where brunch is an option, I absolutely love finding and/or going somewhere where coffee is endless, the atmosphere is relaxed, and the food is good.
Eventually the morning becomes the afternoon, and I grow impatient with just how much it feels like everyone needs to sleep compared to me. Be it the mythical girlfriend, family members, or visiting friends at their places, so often times is the case where I get up before everyone else does, and am sometimes put in positions where I run out of things to do and relaxation to indulge in before I want some company.
Maybe being a morning person is something anomalous, or a common association with growing older, or perhaps it’s just because I might be weird. But man do I take great enjoyment in the mornings free and alone I have sometimes, and I often end them wanting for another one to eventually come, whenever it may be.
