It’s been six weeks and two days since my arrival in Colorado. Sadly, after more than a month, my body is still on Hawaii time. Most nights, I go to sleep around 2 a.m. (11 p.m. Hawaii time) and wake up around 9 or 10 a.m. (6 or 7 a.m. Hawaii time). For the most part, this has worked out in my favor. I get a glorious eight hours of sleep in, and by the time I’ve walked my dog, made my breakfast and checked my emails, most of the people I do work for are just getting to their offices in Hawaii. I feel ahead of the game!
If I absolutely have to wake up earlier, I simply adjust my sleeping schedule accordingly. (I can make myself sleep pretty much anytime, anywhere, if I want to. Ask anyone who has traveled with me—they think it’s hilarious. I’ll be having a conversation with them one minute, then I’ll look at the time and say, “Oh, I need to go to bed. Goodnight.” About 30 seconds later, I’m out cold.) But even after nights of forcing myself to sleep earlier, I’ll go back to my regular schedule, naturally getting tired around 2 a.m. and waking up around 9 a.m. I just can’t seem to get in tune with the mountain time zone.
I know … BOO-HOO, right? Poor me, who doesn’t have wake up early to get dressed and drive to an office every morning. Trust me, I’m not complaining … I’m simply sharing.
Anyway, this morning threw me for a loop. I woke up and looked at the time on my phone: It was 10:34 a.m. I couldn’t believe it—how did I sleep for so long? It didn’t even feel that late. I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and got dressed. As I put my dog’s harness on him in preparation for our morning walk, I glanced up at the clock. It was 10:30. Wait—what?! I must’ve been half asleep when I checked the time on my phone, I thought to myself. I headed out and didn’t think about it again until I got back and started to make my breakfast. The time on the microwave and stove were the same—but the time on the cable box was an hour ahead. What was going on?! <Key “Twilight Zone” music.>
My friend walked into the kitchen. “Did you know,” I began, “that the time on the cable box is different from the time on the microwave and stove?!” Unfazed, she answered, “Oh yeah, the time went up an hour last night. We didn’t fix the clocks yet. The cable box changes automatically.”
The mystery was solved: daylight savings time. That thing that has been printed on every calendar and planner I’ve ever owned, but I never paid any attention to it because it doesn’t “exist” in Hawaii. Looks like I’m going to have to start paying attention to it now, because it definitely exists in Colorado. Guess it’s time to fix the clocks.
Leaving the HI Life 