7 Reasons Why Having To Work Early Sucks The Life Out of You
I work at a local television station and the morning starts at 4:30 a.m., meaning I have to wake up at 3:30 a.m. I can’t whine too much because there are others who have worse schedules then me, like having to be at work at 2:30 a.m. I have adjusted my sleep schedule, but it still sucks and I just want to complain.
1. You can never make plans.
Oh, you want to hang out during the day? I am sleeping or napping or feeling so tired that I don’t want to move. You want to hang out at night? I am also probably sleeping or just waking up to get ready for work. I have no life because I am always sleeping or thinking about sleeping, essentially I have transformed into a sloth.
2. Semi-addicted to sleeping pills.
Just try to fall asleep at 6 p.m. on a summer night, when the sun is still out, without taking a sleeping pill or at the very least melatonin. Sleepy time tea is my best friend, even though it wakes me up in the middle of the night to pee. I’m not proud that I have to take pills to sleep, but if I didn’t then I would be a zombie at work and most likely fall asleep at my desk.
3. The need for coffee to survive.
You think college was the time where you couldn’t live with out coffee? Think again. It’s basically the only thing that will make me a functional human being every day. It definitely doesn’t help that there is always a fresh pot at my work and that I just guzzled my coffee down before I even sat down. Also trying to go through a day without coffee feels like someone is literally operating a jackhammer into your skull.
4. No one is awake when you are.
It’s 4:35 a.m. and you feel like, other than your co-workers, you are the only person alive on this earth. Trying to distract yourself from work by checking your Instagram is not going to work because you know who posts that early? No one. And if you try to text someone, they will either not answer for like five hours or they will be pissed because you woke them up.
5. Despise anyone who says they have to wake up early, i.e. 8 a.m.
By the time they are awake my breakfast has been devoured and I am on my second cup of coffee. Of course when they say this I smile and say ‘well I have to wake up at 3:30 a.m.’ and that usually shuts them up real quick. There are people at my work that have to get up earlier then me and I will always commend them. (And not complain in front of them)
6. Permanent bags under your eyes.
Even if, by some miracle, I get seven hours of sleep, I still wake up with dark circles underneath my eyes. I have learned to love and embrace them, but they still make me look like someone that is both an insomniac and meth addict.
7. You can feel yourself getting older
Bodies are not meant to live off of five hours of sleep every night. There are times where my body just aches and I know it’s because I am up at ridiculous hours. I don’t want to feel like I’m 80 until I have actually reached it.