You may celebrate the longer days that come with Daylight Saving Time, but its arrival Sunday marked the beginning of the summertime blues for super-early risers like me.
Now, instead of dark skies at 7 p.m. that reassure me it鈥檚 right and proper to go to sleep, there will be slanting sunshine and shouts of laughter outside my second-floor window, teasing me as I prepare for my early bedtime.
My bed, with its clean white sheets, two blankets and an extra-large goose down pillow, transforms from a comforting nest into a suffocating prison. I don鈥檛 want to be popping melatonin and brushing my teeth as others negotiate dinner. I want to pick up pizza from Angelo鈥檚 and head to Lakewood鈥檚 to eat it while the sun sets and the sky turns to deep blue velvet.
My job just doesn't allow it.
I will suffer this torment until Nov. 1, when Daylight Saving Time ends, the clock 鈥渇alls back鈥� one hour, sunsets start occurring before 7 p.m. and my bedtime feels in sync again with the Earth's rotation.
鈥淒aylight Saving Time is a kick in the face,鈥� my colleague Jeff St. Clair told me. Jeff is WKSU鈥檚 Midday Host, but from 2008 to 2012, he hosted 鈥淢orning Edition.鈥�
鈥淪ummers were the hardest,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 had little kids who were off of school and running around. I went to bed at 9 p.m. and got up at 3 a.m. I didn鈥檛 sleep for four years.鈥�
I don鈥檛 have young children, or any children, for that matter. But my childlike fear of missing out has kept me up reading, playing guitar, texting or scrolling on my iPhone until 9 o鈥檆lock on a work night more often than I鈥檇 like to admit, with a mere five hours to go before my first alarm goes off at 2 a.m.
This happens from time to time throughout the year. But my FOMO, my fear of missing out, exponentially increases with the evening sunshine. While I鈥檓 winding down, everyone else is coming alive and heading outside. It鈥檚 hard to draw the blinds at 7 p.m. when I see fellow tenants in my apartment complex on their balconies pouring charcoal briquets into their mini-grills, or strolling toward the community pool, beach towels draped around their necks.
I bear the weight of Daylight Saving Time like a sixth grader on a school night.
I reached out to other 鈥淢orning Edition鈥� hosts on our private Facebook page, cheekily titled 鈥淎ll About ME,鈥� to find out how they experience Daylight Saving Time.
My Ohio Newsroom colleague , who also serves as Vice President of News at WVXU in Cincinnati, surprised me. She said she LOVED (her caps, not mine) Daylight Saving Time.
鈥淚鈥檓 in a better mood and I don鈥檛 feel like the life is sucked out of me,鈥� she said.
Maryanne added that she does not go to bed early. She 鈥渢ries鈥� to be in bed by 10 p.m., she wrote, and gets up at 3:30 a.m., supplementing her mere five and a half hours of sleep with a 90-minute midday nap.
I get a stabbing headache when I even think of staying up that late. I鈥檇 rather deal with the FOMO.
, News Director and 鈥淢orning Edition鈥� host at WMRA in Harrisonburg, Va., said he hates 鈥渢he very idea鈥� of Daylight Saving Time, , and wishes everyone would stay on standard time.
鈥淯ntil then,鈥� he wrote, 鈥淚 find great support from some good light-blocking curtains on my bedroom windows, a nice 鈥榳hite-noise鈥� machine and a family that supports my weird needs to not only nap in the afternoon but also go to bed at night before the sun goes down on a summer evening.鈥�
Maybe that鈥檚 the real answer to Daylight Saving Time for us super-early risers. Not quite love of its sunny evenings, but accommodation. Heavy curtains. A white-noise machine. For me, Stephen Dalton鈥檚 on YouTube and an eye pillow. And family and friends who understand this early morning work we love and the off-kilter schedule it requires of us.
After all, someone needs to be there as the day begins, waking others up, telling them the latest news and what the weather and their morning commute will look like. Even if it means going to bed well before their day ends.
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