Sorry, I'm with the early risers and with those who do not want any social activity after 7 pm.

Not by choice. It just happened with middle age. I'm often lying in bed staring at the clock and waiting for it to be decently late enough to get up (which I have decided is any time after 4:30 am).

My poor college-age son is used to calling at 9:00 pm and finding that at least one of us is 3/4 of the way to bed.

I am up between 5:30 and 6 most mornings because that is how my body clock has worked for most of my life, and I don't mind at all. Pulling all-nighters was hell for me in college and I only remember doing it once. My sleep/wake cycle didn't change after I stopped working. I start my day with a walk outdoors although lately I have to wait almost an hour for the sun to come up because there are no lights on the street where I walk. (I tried the miner's headlight and it worked but felt too weird). I do check my iPhone weather app before I head out but if I don't I'm sorry....earlier this week it was unusually cold 40/4 degrees and I was NOT warm enough and actually shortened the walk to get back indoors.

By the time I need to really get dressed I've been awake for several hours so wardrobe choices are easier. When I was working I usually laid things out the night before, so I agree that making decisions early is not so easy.

Wow, so many early birds! Now I'm really starting to feel like there's something wrong with me, lol.

Sisi, lyn67 and Deborah, high five. At least I'm not completely alone!

I'm kidding. I know it's just how you're wired. I've always been like this, and I'm not exactly an extreme night owl, because I get tired by midnight. (I know others who would happily stay up until three). But left to my own devices, I will easily sleep until 9 or 10 every day. I need 8 to 9 hours of sleep ideally, although many days I get by on 7.

I'm also expecting to shift toward the mornings as I get older. At 44, there's no sign of this happening yet, but many older people tell me they wake up naturally before or at dawn these days.

Maneera and Style Fan, when we had a dog, we trained her to not be an early bird.

Chris, pulling all-nighters sucks for everyone, I think! I pulled a couple a few years ago, in my first year at Emily Carr, when I hadn't yet learned how long it takes to complete a project, and I felt physically ill all the next day.

Another early-bird here. I like to get up at 6:00, but sometimes it ends up being earlier -- 5:00 or 5:30. I did it all through college too, and out of college worked a farm job where my hours were 6am to 2pm -- a perfect schedule if you ask me.

Early morning is very productive time for me, when the house is quiet and everyone else is still asleep. I don't get dressed until later though -- like 7:30 or 8:00. The first couple hours, I do the cozy thing -- joggers and a hoodie this time of year. Good for walking and yoga and coffee; then I switch into out-and-about mode once DH and DS get up. It's that whole Mr. Rogers style transition thing -- I love having different clothes for different parts of the day.

Chris -- I use a headlamp to walk my dog in the mornings and the evenings when the days are short. I live on a very quiet dirt road -- no lights whatsoever, but not many cars either. The headlamp feels a little oddball at first, but you get used to it. If it's just for safety/visibility, you could try the little clip-on blinker lights that runners and cyclists use. If it's dark enough that you need it to see your way, though, then it's worth getting a high quality one with floodlight and high-beam modes.

La Pedestrienne -- morning is the most productive time for me, too -- but we're talking a start time of around 9 or 10:00. I'm barely coherent when I first get up!

Actually, now that I think about it, it's a bit depressing that I've spent most of my life adhering to an early bird schedule (6 to 6:30 wake-up times for school and work, and 7 to 7:30 wake-up times as a SAHM when my kids were small) when I'm clearly not built for it. Luckily both my kids were good sleepers as little ones, so I didn't have to endure the early motherhood 5 am wake-up times that some of my friends did!

It was life-changing when my kids were old enough that I no longer had to get up in the morning and supervise them on weekends! Now my 12-year-old sleeps until about 9 on weekends, and my 8-year-old fends for himself until the rest of the family is up.

Aziraphale, I'm exactly like you--I need 8 or 9 hours of sleep and naturally wake up around 9. I'm lucky that my job is flexible so I end up getting to work around 9:30 or 10 and then I stay until about 6 or 7 pm most days. I don't have kids but I expect this would change if I did. I am not a morning person--I also need to go to FFBO outfits if I get up earlier than my normal wakeup time, and I also feel very tired if I exercise in the morning, whereas exercising in the afternoon/early evening is energizing for me.

I can wake up at 7 or 7:30 and not feel too bad, but earlier than that and I will not feel right all day.

High five, crazyone! I prefer not to exercise in the very early morning either. I used to do it years ago, before kids, but that was out of necessity, because I would be too tired to do it after work. These days, I do it in the late morning, usually. I can't go too early because I'd prefer to avoid any run-ins with bears (not an unreasonable thing to worry about here -- we get a lot of bear reports, especially in the fall!).

Actually, what I first logged in to say was that when I worked in a school and was used to going to work in the dark mornings, I used to keep all my socks and such in labeled drawers (BLACK SOCKS, BLACK TIGHTS, BROWN TIGHTS, etc.) because there was no guarantee I would get it right on winter mornings.

When I was doing my psych internship, I was very short on time and had exact uplicates of wardrobe staples. I had identical booties in black and chocolate brown. Unlabeled. One day, I'm sitting in group, surrounded by teens, and I suddenly realize that I'm wearing -- you know what's coming -- one black and one brown bootie.

And that's when I decided it was NOT overly obsessive to label things. Clothespins would help a lot, as would a label-maker, and these little thingies: https://www.amazon.com/Competi.....TF8&a

I need to label some of my drawers a la April. I have sorted my leggings into cropped and non cropped categories but I never remember which one is which.

This reminds me of a big deal with early rising - though it might not be to you, Ariz. For me, having a night owl DH who doesn't get up early means I dress in the dark a lot of the year. I do turn on the walk in wardrobe light which goes into the bedroom a bit, but lots of my clothes are in drawers in the main room, and it can be a bit of a guessing game. Occasionly (like this morning) I discover later in the day that I've put on something that should have been in the wash.

I have fantasies about having a WIR big enough to put all the clothes in, with a separate bathroom entrance as well. (I visited a house like this - you entered the WIR, then the ensuite was to the left and the main bedroom to the right.)

I've to get up at 6:30 for kid's school.. Breakfast. Send another kid to preschool. Shower. By the time it's 9:30. Once a week though, I go to take lectures and need to be out by 7:45. Those days are for throwing something that looks presentable, no fashion.
I'm by no means a night owl. I go to sleep by 10. But can do early. I envy all those who can afford afternoon naps, post lunch siestas. I get to do that only on Sundays.

I've never been an early bird until this year, but now I get up at 4:30 several times a week so I can exercise before work. Between that...and my cats getting used to my early start and expecting daily early feedings...I rarely sleep past 6:30 even on weekends.

The big trick has been learning to go to sleep earlier. I am still way to used to staying up late to read or browse the internet.

If left to my own devices I usually wake up around 8:30.
I can wake up earlier with not much of trouble if I am .not required to communicate before I had a nice quiet coffee. But I rather not.
I do get what you are saying about defaulting to comfy clothes. That happens especially in cold early winter mornings when I look accusingly to my jeans and say 'you are not comfy, it's too cold outside and nothing will be comfier than my pajamas.' I guess that is why I have resorted to leggings and sweater dresses for the past years.