Why Working at Night Screws with My Life

While in law school and while looking for a career oriented job I have spent my time working in a restaurant. Being a full time student I started my restaurant career only being able to work at night because well I had classes all day long, plus needed some time to study, so working night shift seemed like a valid option.  After graduating from law school continuing to work at night seemed like a good plan because it meant that I could job search during the day and then be able to work a full shift at night.

Now that I am no longer in school, working at night really messes with my life.  Besides the fact that it means I have ZERO social life... it also means I almost NEVER get to see my hubby.  M and I have been married for going on 5 months now and if we are lucky we get to see each other a few hours on Monday and Wednesday nights, all day Saturday and during the day on Sunday.  Now if M works on the weekend make that we get to see each other a few hours on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights.  It stinks.  I miss my husband!

Working at night also screws with my life because it just makes me so tired.  I don't like to sleep my day away so I try to get up at a decent time every morning (read 9am), but sometimes I just can't get out of bed.  I am getting home anywhere between 1:30 and 3am... which means I am going to bed sometime between 2:30-4am... depending on how much caffeine I have consumed during the night at work.  Because yes I drink A TON of coffee while working just so that I can stay awake.   But in staying awake at work it means I can't fall asleep when I get home.  Then when I can't fall asleep at home I can't get out of bed at 9am.  Then when I finally do get out of bed it seems like most of the day is wasted AND I am usually still tired because although I don't get out of bed at 9am I also don't fall back asleep either.... I usually end up just lying in bed watching episodes of "Girls" on HBOGo on my tablet or catching up on blog reading.

I seem to have ZERO energy to do anything these days... I don't want to work out, I don't want to cook, I don't want to shop... I don't want to do ANYTHING.  It is AWFUL! I have been doing my best to find a way out of this lifestyle, but so far no luck.  I would love nothing more than to have a job where I work during the day so that I can have a normal out of work life.  I want to be able to have dinner with my husband.  I want to have the energy to go to the gym or Zumba every night.  I want to be able to go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 7am (or earlier).  I just want to be able to lead a healthy lifestyle...a lifestyle that just doesn't seem possible to when I am leaving for work at 4pm and not getting home until after 1am.

Sorry for the rant, but working at night really is screwing with my life these days.  Any suggestions for how to deal with working at night until I can get this job situation figured out?

As always, today I am thankful for the fact that I have friends who will at least once a week kick my butt into gear and get me to go to Zumba with them.  Zumba has become such a great stress relief and I look forward to it every Wednesday night.  Sure it means I don't get to spend as much time with M, but this is something that I need to do for me in order to help get my life together.  I wish I had more free nights to do it... or just more free nights so I didn't feel guilty about going to Zumba when I could be spending time with M.  But I am thankful for the time I do get to spend doing it... here's to becoming a healthier me!