The Nightlife by Kendra

The Nightlife by Kendra - January 2019 Scholarship Essay

The common argument for people who claim to be night owls is that is easier to fall asleep than it is to wake up which leads to more work getting done at night to avoid waking up early in the morning the next day. While I can appreciate this argument and I agree with the latter statement, I have to disagree with the opening because I am an insomniac and it is hard for me to fall asleep and it is equally harder for me to wake up in the morning. I am forced into the life of a night owl because my body will physically not allow me to go to bed when I want to so I would stay awake.
This used to make me miserable, not being able to sleep for hours on end because my brain would be so overwhelmed with information from the day or from the past that I would be wide awake until I crashed at 3 or 4 am unless I took a sleep-aid or a melatonin pill. It wasn’t until I got into my junior year in high school that I stopped wasting time staring at the ceiling and turned this problem into something productive. On nights that I cannot rely on medication to manage my sleep schedule, I spend my time doing art, reading, homework, and music and manage to go to sleep around 1-2 am. Other nights, I am so exhausted from the day's activities or the building lack of sleep and my body crashes at 2-3. Some nights I can take a sleep aid and be asleep by 11.
I do like to question the idea that even if I didn’t have insomnia then I would still be a night owl. There is a certain calmness in the atmosphere at night whenever everybody around you is asleep. It’s a different world when all you can hear is crickets chirping and the occasional car passing by. It feels like a secret that you are alone and awake. I hope that one day I can get over my insomnia and develop a normal set of sleeping habits but I believe that I will continue to love the nightlife.