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Nocturnal Beings

Are the other people here who are awake more at night and sleep more during the day? I've worked overnight 12 hour shifts at the local hospital for 5 years and have grown accustomed to my schedule. I live alone and enjoy sitting here writing to you while sipping on a cocktail at 3 in the morning. I am recently divorced from a 5 year marriage, but my now ex-wife and I had already separated 3 times before I finally filed for divorce. She couldn't file because she is active in the Jehovah's Witness religion and that's not allowed with no probable cause. For may years I embraced spirituality, reading and practicing A Course In Miracles (ACIM) and found comfort in the way Jesus presented his understanding in ACIM. But after being married to someone who was a disfellowshipped Jehovah's Witness (JW) when we met but was reinstated after we married, and my witness to their crazy beliefs, I see today a clear difference in what is true and what is believed to be true. I'll go ahead and post this now in hopes of a reply....

kenbur12 5 May 10
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22 comments

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5

I found the beliefs of the JW's to be no more or less crazy than any other religious beliefs coming out of the Abrahamic faiths. They are all equally crazy. My last marriage had me learning things from African religions like Legio Maria. I can't say that religious differences had anything to do with my divorce as my ex agrees with me. At least, she does when we talk. Then she later thinks about it and claims again that everyone knows there is a god.

5

I uh have been a night person since I was little. The day is just too bright, loud and exhausting. I can function fine during the day but I have a hard time sleeping at night no matter how long I've been up. It's just always been that way.

My divorce is almost final. Married 12 years and have 2 boys. The last 6 months have been interesting.

Edit: but make no mistake that if I don't have things I need to get done I'll sleep from dawn to 5pm easy lol. I only seem to get great sleep during daylight hours.

5

I work nights. Have for about fifteen years. Currently working a shift right now. Work ~10pm-7am, Mon-Fri.

I never married.

4

I've worked all manner of shifts when I dispatched responders. The pay goes up a little...but the worst for me was 11pm-7am. Ugh...it felt so unnatural. And eating was weird because I was used to eating in the daytime. I remember watching co-workers eating hamburgers and chocolate cake at 5am...lol...blew my mind. I'm definitely a day person and my highest energy levels are in the am. I felt like I actually needed more sleep to adjust to working overnight, but then felt like all I did was sleep all day then work all night. The best part about nights was that all the upper management wasn't there.
Can't comment on the JW's...all denominations are crazy in my book.

@McVinegar That's funny because I would keep pushing the breakfast foods on my co-workers. I'm a die breakfast food fan.

@McVinegar I eat the same way...when I get home from work in the morning, I normally eat salad or coleslaw with a glass of red wine and yogurt to top it off before going to bed. But love breakfast food anytime.

4

I used to work the graveyard shift when I was in my senior year and I found it easier to just go without sleep for 5 days, the occasional catnap for 20 minutes would get me through but the wall would be breathing with me by the time my last shift rolled around. I've always kept strange hours so it is normal for me to be awake in the middle of the night, get up for an hour or two, do a few things and then go back to bed for a couple of hours. I love the calm that exists in the atmosphere in the middle of the night, the stillness when everyone else is asleep and that sense of otherworldliness that you feel sometimes in the middle of the night.
The JW's are crazy in the way that all cults are crazy but they have definitely relaxed in the past 30 years or so. A lot of their stranger ideas seem geared to helping them set themselves apart as the one true religion, the blood transfusion issue, the refusal to stand for national anthems or celebrate birthdays, etc. What I notice the most in my nieces and nephews who were raised as JW's is the willingness to persecute and rat out their fellow JW's, gaining brownie points for exposing each other's 'worldly behavior' while engaging in the same practices and trying not to get caught themselves. The now have non-practicing and lapsed standings in the JW's which I find comical as the Elders try to keep up membership roll numbers by counting JW's that no longer attend or practice that crazy religion, it allows them to turn a blind eye to behavior which in the past would have been grounds for immediate disfellowship but I guess they are going more mainstream now. lol

Well written. Thanks

4

I am more of a night owl, I find it is the only time I get any peace.

4

I've been in the work force for around 22 years and of that, most of the jobs I've worked have been the overnight shift. With the except of like 3. (Mostly because they didn't have overnight shifts. Needless to say, that was a nightmare for me)

I was married for 8 years and eventually, the difference in or shifts would start to take toll. (Amongst other things)
Working these shifts can have damaging effects on your social and love life.
Hell, I don't have very many close friends. But it wouldn't be fair to blame my nocturnal nature.
I've always been the (to use an over used cliche ) lone wolf. I disappear for lengths of time and reemerge to observe. Hell, I do it here and any other forum of communication.

At any rate, still going strong on the overnight shifts. I say this as I'm heading home on the train.

Also, I don't know if you fellow overnighters hate summer as well. I hate it because there's daylight when I head to work and daylight when I come home...

I'm tired. I'm rambling.

4

Several years ago, I had a job working 5-midnight. I'd get home around 1am and go to bed around 4 or 5am. Now, I'm the opposite. I'm up most days at 4:30am. I don't have to get up that early, I leave the house at 6:30. But I love the early morning hours, and I like to have a couple of hours to watch the news programs that I recorded the night before, drink a cup of coffee or two, and have a nice unrushed start to my day.

I was married for a couple of years in my 20s. It was a disaster for reasons not including religion. Surprisingly, religion and politics never came up once between us. Nor with a couple other guys who I was serious enough with to consider marriage. I just never gave much thought to religion or politics back then. These days, I can't imagine dating someone who wasn't on the same page as me in these categories.

I too love the early morning hours. The peace and quiet invigorate me. My schedule also includes waking up hours before I have to leave giving myself plenty of time to do whatever I want; although, that's usually afternoon. Thanks for commenting and sharing with me some thoughts about yourself. I'm sitting here now writing this while listening to a Steven Pinker discussion on YouTube.

3

I worked 4 to midnight shifts for more than 20 years. My family and friends could never understand why I was still up at 3 or 4am or later every night. I tried many times to explain the them that the end of my shift at midnight was the same to me as their 5pm quitting time. They didn't go home and to bed by 6 or 7pm. It takes time to unwind. I have always enjoyed the early morning hours to de-stress and clear my mind.

3

I have crazy sleeping patterns which may have me wide awake at 2:30 or maybe 4:30. It wouldn't be bad if I didn't work during the day

2

Hi there, yes, I'm a fellow nocturnal being. I've just been backwards like that my whole life. I also work at night, but because I've manufactured it that way. I've adjusted my work life to fit my internal clock. I find it more peaceful, more beautiful at night. I often hang at my window, enjoying the stillness. I am also single, with the relationship of my life ending about two years ago. I've found it to move on, but I do enjoy being solo to a certain extent. I don't believe in marriage. I don't need a church or the State to sanction my relationship. That's between two people alone. I know I'm weird, but I enjoy being different. Wanna be late night pen pals? Do people still do that?

2

Yeah, I’m much more of an evening/night person than a day person. I don’t fall asleep until 2 or 3am and wake up around 11-12. I mean, I’m still getting 8 hours but I just don’t function well during the day. I hate being around people during the day time hours and I seem much more relaxed at night.

2

Since ceasing work/job/gigging I sleep when I'm tired regardless the time.

2

What do you do? Work night shifts for 11 years as a nurse. Hated every bloody minute of it. Basically my ideal would be no sleep

I'm a Multi-Skilled Tech, so I assist nurses in many ways.

@kenbur12 Well I am senior clinical practitioner and my day job is a university lecturer now...we could not cope without people like you.

@Amisja Thanks! I work with a great team who share the same sentiment with me regularly.

2

I had a gf who did CIM and strongly encouraged me to explore it. Never did. Been a non-believer since my teens.

2

I've definitely always felt more awake between the hours of 5pm -8 am. Worked nights for years until kids put the kibosh on that. I find I'm more creative and productive during that period.

2

More of a night person here.

1

I used to believe (and kinda still do) that my origin is not of this world. I seem to have a 32 hour day ( a 20/12 cycle - which causes all kinds of problems) can't sleep when I'm 'supposed to' and then can't wake up when i'm supposed to. Also my skin burns in the sunlight (now you would think that after a few million years of evolution that would have been taken care of by mother nature) I find most people insufferably obtuse and self absorbed. Or is it just me??

It's just you....?

1

I'm nocturnal, but not by choice. I guess I'm a hybrid as I tend to wake up in the middle of the night and stay up till dawn or so.

1

I've always been a night owl. Even when I was very young (7 or 8), I never seemed to go to sleep early. But of course, I liked to sleep late. Like McVinegar, I have worked every shift in the book at one time or another; my favorite was actually 4 - midnight.

With respect to Jehovah's Witnesses, my best friend from the time I was 12 had a mother who was a Jehovah's Witness, and an alcoholic, which I found out later was very weird. Having been brought up a strict Catholic, I was surprised that she even tolerated me, until I discovered it was because she wanted to convert me. She thought she could do this by telling me stories about all the bad things about other religions. My grandmother was living with us at the time, and there were two things she would not tolerate - gossip, and "If you can't say something nice...." I'm sure you know the rest. So of course, I had to pass that wisdom on, and never heard much more from my friend's Mom about Jehovah any more.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed reading that.

@kenbur12 thanks

1

Night Owl. The only thing l know about JW's is the look on their face when l tell them l'm an Atheist. I really love that.

1

Excommunication or disfellowship overlays human hate, spite and prejudice on top of dysfunctional relationships with the supernatural beings. Only the religious could be so nasty

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