Once upon a time, staying up until midnight was easy. It happened almost every night, easily, that I could stay up past midnight. In fact, I preferred it that way. There’s something about doing something productive when most other people are asleep that I enjoy. It used to be the time when I wrote stories, or hung out with friends.
In fact, most summers my best friend and I would regularly stay up until three or four in the morning, just because. We were always home, just the two of us, drawing or talking or listening to music or playing the board game Clue.
I was shocked to learn that is not supposed to be played with two people. We spent many midnights sitting on the patio listening to music and playing Clue for hours.
But this year, for New Year’s Eve, my friends and I tried to stay up late, only to find we were exhausted. It could be partially my fault as I served soup for dinner and that made everyone tired, but we all got to midnight and then went to bed without hesitation.
We tried playing games, but after 9 p.m., no one felt up to doing much. Our dogs were snoozing on their beds by 9:30.
But not even 10 years ago, these same friends would also be up until the wee hours of the morning, playing card games and laughing. None of us were ever big party people, but nights were spent sitting around someone’s kitchen table with snacks and games, laughing about everything.
That’s not to say I don’t stay up late anymore, as I do sometimes. It’s not unusual for me to just not feel tired until then, but usually I’m laying in bed scrolling on my phone instead of being up and active. Plus, if I make too much noise, one of the dogs will hear me and either want to get up and play or want to climb in our bed instead of sleeping on their own bed.
So what happened?
Some people say it’s age. I’m 28, not 18, but I feel just as tired now as I did then. In fact, I was more tired then when I worked four or five days a week, went to college five days a week, and still found time to spend with friends and family and to volunteer and do homework. I do significantly less than that now.
But still, staying up late isn’t what it used to be. Perhaps it’s the novelty. I can stay up as late as I want because I’m an adult and there’s no one to stop me, unlike when I was a teenager or in my early 20s when I lived at home and only got to stay up late with friends during summers and weekends.
Plus, I always have a friend now, because I live with my husband Kyle. It’s not rare to have someone to talk to or play games with.
Maybe that’s the difference. I have time now, and I don’t have to stay up late. We can play Clue in the middle of the day instead of the middle of the night.
Or at least when our friends come over, since apparently it’s not a two-player game.