Varsity Tutors Essay: Why I’m a Night Owl by Alicia

Varsity Tutors Essay: Why I’m a Night Owl by Alicia - January 2019 Scholarship Essay

The last light of the sun finally transitions to a deep dark blue over the horizon. I’ve already had dinner with my family and now we’ve all gone our separate ways, a hush falling over the entire house. I sit at my work station, be it my drafting table or my bed, bright-eyed and ready to work into the dark hours of the night. For me, as a night owl, this setting is the only real way for me to get any significant work done.

There are many reasons why the night time hours are the best time for me to be productive. The main reason is the darkness outside. I have two windows in my room, so it is quite easy for me to get distracted by the scenery instead of getting work done. With the night time making the outside world dark and shapeless, I can focus on my work and my passion projects with no distractions. Another reason why the night time “brings with it the muse” for me, is my highly-active imagination. This, combined with the stillness of the house, is the perfect environment for me to be alone with my thoughts while I work. If I’m in the mood to get art inspiration, or if I need to rack my brain for an idea for a character’s backstory, I can, because the house is very still and quiet and allows for me to hear myself think. The night time hours are some of the best and most productive hours I’ve ever spent in my room.

As much as the darkness and quiet of night helps me to get my work done, there are certain things about my night owl life that can set me back, productivity wise. Firstly, I am a night owl that loves to sleep in. So if I start to get sleepy, which tends to happen at around 12:30 or 1:00 am, I start to slow down, mentally and physically. My sleepiness starts blurring my thoughts together into a distorted mess and it gets hard to think, much less work. Another caveat that comes with being the sort of night owl that I am is the afternoon. Afternoons are right around the time I wake up on the weekends, thus there are times where I spend my afternoons sleepy-eyed rather than fully awake and alert. Those times where I need to use the afternoon to work on something and I can’t seem to keep my eyes more than half-open are the worst of times. These times are especially unproductive if I’m trying to use the afternoon to prepare myself for working during the night.

All things considered, I like being a night owl. The dim, placid nature of the night calms me down so I can focus. Once I get to the end parts of my work process, the quietness throughout the house helps me wind down until I go to sleep. It’s the perfect way for me to work and it helps with getting school work done, which is usually expected to be done overnight.