Bryn
Every college student complains about how little they sleep. On average, college kids are sleeping about 6 hours every night (https://www.uhs.uga.edu/sleep) (allegedly) but from my experience, that number seems astronomically high. If I were to survey every student here, I’m sure that range would be much, much smaller. In school, it seems like everyone is up at this time, and college students live an entire second day, but at night. People are rowdy, people are studying, they’re watching Disney channel original movies from the 90s, but no one seems to want to sleep at a normal hour. This was an adjustment for a lot of people I know, but for me, this has nearly always been the case.
I am most definitely an insomniac by nature. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a full night’s sleep, I’m straight up nocturnal. Ask anyone I know. I do my best work at night, I’m much more productive and creative. I learn everything I’ve ever wanted to know about the world between the hours of 2-4 a.m. I’ve built spontaneous relationships, I’ve broken relationships, and discovered so much about myself from staying up at night. I am so much more curious during these hours, and even if I tried to sleep, my brain comes up with a million other questions or activities for things I could be doing besides sleeping.
I definitely inherited my lack of sleep from my dad, who used to tell me that in college he believed he would never be able to work a 9-5 job because of his sleep schedule. For my entire life, I remember coming downstairs late at night to see my dad in his recliner, ever the multitasker, watching rugby on the tv, cricket on his computer, and a stack of books or a crossword puzzle in his lap. My mom always says that when I was growing up, I had an entire second life that only existed after she went to bed. “You and your father used to eat sushi and watch R-rated movies and who knows what else after I went to bed” is a frequently used quote of hers. But her point is exactly true, I do live a second life after the world goes to sleep.
All of the things that I want to do during the busy day just can’t be accomplished until night time. Whether that be completely redecorating my room or just binge-watching the Kardashians, night time is when I am happiest and at peace. It’s my time to discover, explore, or give my brain a reality-tv induced detox.
This is how I discovered podcasting. Late at night, I began listening to some of my favorite comedians give hilarious hour-long performances completely over audio. I began learning the meaning behind some of history’s favorite fairy tales and became engrossed in the world of true crime and missing persons. Podcasts are often an escape for many people and used to fill the time throughout their day that they find boring, like commuting or running errands. For me, it was a great source of entertainment for multitasking. I wonder where I got that from? I would listen to podcasts while shopping online, doing homework, or exercising, all at 2-3 in the morning of course. I have learned so much over the past few years that I have been listening to podcasts, and the medium itself is so convenient for my sleepless lifestyle. The chance to make my own in a class entirely dedicated to the craft of the podcast was an opportunity that I knew I just had to take.
However, it never actually occurred to me that in a podcast class I would be the one having to speak in a podcast (sometimes common sense isn’t really there for me). I had no idea how to relay my personality over audio. So once I started thinking, and given the chance to describe myself in an unconventional way, I only really found one way….while awake….at 3 am. While this isn’t an entirely “fun fact”, it is definitely the perfect way to describe myself.