A Proud Night Owl by Annika

A Proud Night Owl by Annika - January 2019 Scholarship Essay

Without a doubt, I am most definitely a “night owl.” When given the opportunity, I do not wake up until 11am at the earliest--1pm at the latest--and I do not go to sleep until anywhere from midnight to 3am. There are many explanations for my nocturnally-inclined habits, among them being the following: I have trouble falling asleep and do not sleep well, I enjoy being awake when others are not, or perhaps I simply prefer being “irresponsible,” according to my mother. However, I have also found that there is a significant correlation between how productive I am and the time my clock reads; relativity of time aside, it seems that the later it is, the more efficiently I work.
While some people thrive in chaos, I do not. I am easily distracted by things such as my mom talking on the phone, a football game on the TV, my brother playing Fortnite in the game room, or any other conceivable (albeit minor) distraction. I am a naturally very curious person, but in order to pursue my academic curiosities in a timely manner, I require minimized ambient noise. Thus, when everyone goes to sleep, I am the most productive as the house become quiet and it is easier for me to focus.
However, at times I tend to manifest my own distractions during the day in the form of social media. My largest vices? Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. When the sun is up, so are my friends, and I know that when I have a particularly daunting task on my plate I am more prone to procrastinate by socializing and responding to notifications. Though once it hits 8 or 9 o’clock, the realization that I still have work to do begins to weigh on my psyche. The stress of impending deadlines resultant of wasted time then propels me to impressive levels of production, which then peters out around midnight.
Is this the most healthy way to manage my time? Perhaps not. But maybe that is because our present society commends early-risers as organized and motivated, and condemns night owls as messy and lazy. There’s even an idiom dedicated to this mentality: “the early bird gets the worm,” meaning those who wake up early are more successful. I disagree. Not all people are morning people; many, like myself, tend to work best late at night and despise waking up early. As I finish my high school career with a 4.7 grade point average, I would like to defend night owls as having the potential to be just as productive as early risers. Ultimately, people should be allowed to operate in the most efficient way that works for them.