Spring Forward, Crash Early

Today marks the start of Daylight Savings Time.  Up until a few years back, the parts of the state that I had lived in never observed DST.  People outside of the state thought that was weird, but it was all I had ever known so I was used to it.  It was a pain when I was younger trying to remember what time it was at my grandparents’ house.  Once I started working and occasionally had to call people in other states, it could get confusing trying to figure out what time I was supposed to call.  You wouldn’t think it would be that difficult, but when calling across time zones and trying to figure out if DST was being observed or not, and there was no world time zone website, you can see where it could get difficult.  Add to that the fact that some parts of my state were in different time zones, and you’ve got a real mess.

It was a big to-do when it was finally decided that the state would observe DST.  I was fairly indifferent.  But guess what the biggest complaint was?  Yep, having to change the time on your clocks twice a year.  I mean, you might have five clocks and it takes like, what, 30 seconds to move the time forward or back one hour?  Imagine the time wasted!  Ridiculous.

I now love DST.  While I don’t like it when I have to get up and it is dark out, I am not a morning person so this does not impact me all that much (I have been told this will change once I have children).  This means that I do most of my personal activities after work.  Daylight extending well into the evening hours means I have more time to run, more time to do work in the yard, more time to enjoy the sun.

However, I do not love, and have not found a way to get used to, losing an hour of sleep.  Even when I go to bed an hour earlier, I am still so tired by late afternoon that first day.  I know it’s all mental – just knowing I’ve “lost” an hour makes me think I should feel tired.  I woke up with no problem, even though my body thought it was 6:10 instead of 7:10.  I was wide awake on my run.  I even ran the vacuum cleaner.  But about 45 minutes ago I started feeling really sleepy.  Too bad we still have to run to the store, to the laundry, and do some work.  Maybe by next weekend my body will have adjusted.