"I would routinely stay up late watching TV or reading in bed and say yes to dinners that started long after nightfall. My relationship with mornings was casual-I'd occasionally enjoy a sunrise but I certainly never set an alarm to see one. Then I had children, whose needs demanded an early start, and I spent years stumbling out of bed at their first sounds, making breakfast, and building block towers before I'd fully woken up."
"This is partly because my morning hours have come to feel sacred: They're the only portion of the day reserved for just my own needs-and for a parent, that kind of time is hard to find. I also derive genuine satisfaction from my early productivity. As my wake-up time has inched earlier, I've written more, exercised more consistently, and been able to approach challenges with clarity, well before afternoon fatigue sets in."
"But every transformation comes with a price. And mine has been paid in evening hours-those crucial moments when families traditionally reconnect after a day apart, when teenagers may be more likely to open up, when friends gather and marriages deepen in the comfortable darkness after responsibilities have been met. I have become a person who gives the best of herself to the morning and offers only the dregs to the night."
Early mornings were adopted initially out of childcare necessity and later kept for solitude, productivity, and clarity. Morning hours became sacred personal time used for writing, exercise, and mental preparation. Earlier wake times increased creative and physical output and reduced afternoon fatigue. The shift produced trade-offs: diminished evening energy, fewer engaged family evenings, and reduced availability for teenagers, friends, and marital intimacy during traditional nighttime reconnection. Household rhythms adjusted, with one partner assuming morning responsibilities and the other handling evening tasks, altering responsibilities and the balance of emotional availability.
Read at The Atlantic
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