Salut folks!
To answer the headline question: no, not everybody is a morning person. And you don't have to be one if you're not. Really.
In German, we have that saying "Der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm." literally translated to "The early bird catches the worm.". This might as well be true for birds but not for humans, at least not for all of them.
Alas, it's what I've been told ever since I was a child. And like every good kid, I rebelled against this by sleeping in as often as I could. That means every weekend, every holiday and on every break. Why would I want to get up early anyway? There's nothing I can do in the morning I can't do at night or during the night. Moreover, I needed my beauty sleep.
Unfortunately, younger me did not know that she's actually an early riser and not a night owl. Well, I can't change my behaviour from back then but I have since improved my habits. I usually get up at around 5:30am but definitely always before 7am. Every day, whether I have to or not doesn't matter. I am way more productive in the morning than at night, or at least when it's still light outside.
The important thing is that this is my way of starting the day. It is not necessarily your way. I get shit done more easily when it's seriously early. Thus, I also go to bed rather early, at around 11pm. Another bonus is that I don't require much sleep. Six hours are sufficient for my needs, as I am more tired throughout the day when I sleep a lot more than that. It is basically how I use my "prime time" to make the most of the day.
On the other hand, take my father or my brother. When my dad was a student at university, he wrote his entire dissertation in the middle of the night. He's still successful even though he is the complete opposite of a morning person. My brother, who is still in school, works on all his presentations at night and then gets up at 2pm the next day. In the end, it doesn't affect his grades.
The salient point is that it works for them. They do well at school and excel in their profession.
I've been talking about this with a few friends lately and they were all envious of my wont. Now, there is really no point to that. I told all of them that this is simply what works for me.
Perhaps, it works for them, too. I think the only way to know for sure what suits you best is to try it. Try to wake up really early for a few days in a row and see how it affects your stamina, your school/college/job performance and you in general. If you do and feel better by rising sooner than usual, maybe you are an early riser. Someone who transcends in the morning. However, if you feel drained, tired and not productive at all, then you are most likely more suited to be a night owl.
Both attributes are absolutely okay and don't make you a better or worse person at the end of the day. You don't have to force one or the other on you, this will not help. Instead of trying to modify our habits, we could adjust to them and make the best out of the time we have at our dispense. I know that, unfortunately, this won't be a possibility for everyone due to school or their job. But we can still make the best out of it.
Not everybody is a morning person and that's good. That's marvellous because it demonstrates yet again how different we all are and how there's more than one way to excel. If that's at night for you or in the morning for me, doesn't matter. Let's all enjoy the early mornings and the late nights we have as much as we can and try our best. Always.
Adieu
magdalena
