: the dreaded reset :

Well, here we are. Slogging through the first official day of standard time. We knew it was coming, right? We tried to prepare. But, c’mon, how do your prepare to lose daylight, a beloved, life-enhancing commodity? You can’t. 

Standard time has all the charm of unwelcome, domineering houseguests. No matter how rude you are. No matter how unpleasant you make their stay, they linger. Out of obliviousness or spitefulness, they become inert and refuse to budge. And so it is with the short days and endless nights of winter. They’re here for the duration.

This year, though, I decided to accept turning back the clock as an opportunity to straighten myself out. You see, I’ve been staying up too late, way, way, WAY too late. Often into the early morning hours, like 4:00 and 5:00 in the morning. So my days were already shorter — by a whole lot. I slept most of the bright, shiny day away.

Before you ask, no. I’m not a vampire. I’m obsessed. 

Months ago, I decided I needed a project to survive winter. It’s my annual nemesis, you know, and starts worrying me in the bright, sunlit days of July. This year, I’d like to avoid the anxiety and depression it causes. So I started thinking of ways to distract myself from the cold, dark world dead ahead and came up with a project I hope will carry me safely into spring. 

It’s gigantic, this undertaking. Daunting, too, so far out of my comfort zone it’s all-consuming and very hush-hush. The secrecy is necessary because, at any point, it could blow up in a massive fireball of humiliating stoopidity. So I do not speak of it. I obsess over it. Day and night. Night and day. And it’s a straight-up gas — the most fun I’ve had in the darkening days of autumn since leaf piles and trick-or-treating and bonfires. 

However, the all-night sessions have to go. It’s a creepy lifestyle. The quarantining and social distancing is weird enough without adding a nocturnal twist. It’s just not healthy. I’ll never be a morning person, but I’d like to try being an early afternoon person again. Just for a while, see if I remember what it’s like to function in daytime. I’m counting on the return of standard time to reset my schedule. Wish me luck! 

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