Staying up late to get peace and quiet. Am I the only one?

[OhDear2200]

Sometimes I know I should go to bed. I know I need the sleep, my kids will have me up early, I’ve a busy day, etc.

BUT.

No one else is up. It’s sooooo quiet. I can just sit here and drink my tea.

Going to bed involves doing stuff like getting the dog out, cleaning my teeth. I just can’t be arsed.

Am I alone in this?

Yip! Brilliant tonight actually because it was raining and darker earlier so the kids went to bed at 8pm. Score

DC here are all grown - ish, very nearly there.

Love this quiet time

Yes I'm the same. I can't wait for everyone to go to bed so I can have some time to think and listen to nothing.

RELATABLE!!!!

My husband doesn't get this but I feel like it's my time even though I'm robbing tomorrow of the best me since I'm super tired and baby is in a "I'm wide awake at 05:30" phase. Daily.

Just scrolling through my phone unbothered!

Oh yes, the 'Golden Hour(s)'. DH and I used to go to bed at the same time but after we retired he still goes to bed with the chickens and I stay up later, usually an hour or two. That hour or so by myself I read or quietly watch shows he wouldn't like on my laptop. He also gets up with the chickens whilst I (fake) sleep to steal another 30 minutes or so of quietness playing on my phone.

He's a lovely man, but he's a 'loud man'. Heavy feet, big voice, sings and talks to himself around the house and has the TV on with the volume up even when he's not paying attention. During our working years life was too busy (and noisy itself) to really notice it. But since retirement I've learnt that I really treasure silence and/or 'low volume'.

I love this thread! Didn't know there were so many of us :-)

Me too, I need a bit of wind-down before going to sleep myself. As an introvert as well, even though I love my DC and DP dearly, I NEED peace and quite and alone time to recharge.

If I just go to bed straightaway, my mind is racing. So yeah, I love a bit of late night tea drinking & mindless scrolling even though I know I'll be tired tomorrow.. This, however is precious and well worth it imo xx

In several years it will swing the other way. I’m now the first to bed to get my time away. The advantage is on the weekends I’m generally the first one up so get some alone time before everyone else gets up.

Im the other way round. I love getting up at 5:30-6am and watch Netflix and drink coffee, clean a little, sad it outside doing nothing just listening to the sound of nothing.

Sad it!?

I mean “and sit”

I get my peace in the morning. I love being up before everyone - cup of tea, peg the washing out, read the news, no interruptions. I fall asleep too easily to enjoy peace at the end of the day.

Yes, me too, or sometimes I enjoy the quiet time before everyone gets up.

Late evening used to be my peaceful time when ds was younger, now he's a teen early mornings are my quiet time. Currently sitting in the garden with my coffee and the cat and all I can hear is the birds. My absolute favourite time of day.

Revenge bedtime procrastination. Or just another 10 minutes/10 pages… I can’t do it anymore as ten minutes thinking and sorting quickly becomes staying up til 2am with the mental wheels spinning and the knowledge the toddler will be up sooner rather than later! Night time peace is lovely peace, please enjoy it for both of us OP

Yup. I stay up even though I am knackered and can't move. Watched foyles war only last night DHs TV taste is limited to outback truckers

Loving the mentions of 'Foyle's War' and the chance to finally have a conversation with oneself.

I follow a psychology account in Twitter and apparently this thing of 'staying up late to find a small nest of time and quiet for solitude' has increased during the pandemic. Which is probably not surprising, since we've been locked up so long in our little houses, often WFH, perhaps with adult children who would have been off and about.

So all those other little 'nests of solitude' (a commute, hours when the house is empty of others, a shopping trip,) have disappeared, whilst shared time has also become more crowded - and all of that has left many of us craving solitude and having to burrow into the later night to find it.

Rather worryingly, the article suggested it wasn't very healthy. ☹️ which was a bit fun-sponge.

Anyway, I sit and watch 'Foyle's War' and let my thoughts slowly unravel, too.

My husband said he was going for an evening out this weekend then decided he needed a weekend at home after a few busy ones.

Bastard.

He also came home EARLY on the last night before the second lockdown.

It's a miracle he's still alive.