In some ways having lived a nocturnal lifestyle for portions of my professional career has enlightened me to a whole other world that remains a mystery to most people. It can be unsettling at first. Darkness does that to most people.
Just like with anything, it takes time for your senses to adjust. Your sight has to change, your margin for error is way down. The sounds and smells of the night are different than the day. I’ve worked both day and night shifts in Washington DC. That is an entirely different place after sunset as most places are.
But really there is no difference between a city and the woods. All kinds of predators are out at night. But besides that negative, there is a world of wonderous activity. The world is restocked overnight. How this mystery of movement happens is a ballet in darkness. But the mystery to me is how does the human mind change when you become nocturnal.
It’s like living in a different reality sometimes. A different mindset when you see people. For instance, tomorrow night when I get together with my 2 best friends for HH they will be ready for dinner. Well, it’s breakfast time for me. But hell, I don’t care, I’ll eat Mexican or pizza or whatever the group wants to have.
I enjoy sunrises and sunsets, they just mean different things to me. Sunrise is bedtime. Yeah, sort of like Dracula. And sunset is something that I’m cooking bacon to every so often. I look across at the traffic lights in the morning and see people just starting their days and mine is coming to a close. Interesting observation. Most of them don’t have a smile on their face, I do.
I don’t know how people do it for decades, it’s a mystery to me. Sometimes it fits a lifestyle. Sometimes it fits life situations where one parent is always home for kids. It’s tough on relationships though.
One observation about the people out at night. The good ones you encounter are really really good giving and caring people. Most of us who work nights really rely on each other because there are so few for support around.
As I usually step out of my basement office each night it’s always a mystery as to what I might see. Will it be a big herd of deer, maybe a fox sitting on my hill scoping out the clearing before the woods, maybe an owl hooting, or just a cool breeze. The night is full of mysteries that I embrace.
