I will be working nights from Wednesday to Saturday as a night stockman, and I wonder how I will maintain a social life. I am really looking for a relationship/lover, but I am terribly introverted. How the hell am I going to pull this off?
You could always turn to the internet. There are ways to find things to do in your area... and to find people that are on the same type of schedule that you are. datehookup.com - For dating, obviously meetup.com - This is a social outting type website... Never used it, but I hear good things about it. Other than that... You could always go hang out at Starbucks and get to know everyone there, just by being a repeat customer.
Depending on what time you have to be to sleep im gueesing you are going to have to start makeing plans in the early morning. You will want to be more on top of your planning schedule because you don't want to get behind in your sleep schedule. When i worked graveyards it was a nightmare in the summer and it was just awesome in the winter. During the summer i had to do something as soon as i got off work. I did not want to go home because i didn't want to take the chance and lay down taking a nap that just throws off my sleep for the rest of the night. So i tried the best i could to kept active. You want your body to be tired when its time to get sleep, otherwise your fucked... In the winter as soon as i got off work id go snowboard or ski all day, by the time i got home at 3pm id eat and drink and be asleep by 5. Barely letting myself get 7 hrs. Nights are hard to work man. I did it for almost three years tell i finally fell apart and moved out of state. It was also difficult because friends and other people seem to forget that if im not in bed by 5pm, i wont be getting 7 hours of sleep, and the night could be very difficult...people just don't realize the life on the shift unless they have done it.
If you are a regular beer/wine/hard-a drinker i strongly suggest cutting back now, and stay back if you can. Almost everyone i worked with had an abuse problem of some kind, drinking, heavy smokers, pill addicts....It was rare it see a nightworker with no mental issues..honestly. In the end i damn near drowned myself in alcohol because i relied on it to fall asleep. Don't fall into that terrible twister that i did.
I've worked nights for almost 2 years now. The only thing I hate is flipping my schedule around so much. I work 4 nights then I take a nap in the morning so I can be awake for the next few nights to take care of my son. Then flip back to nights again. I have no social life, but thats more because I have a 2 year old than anything. I date a guy at work which is good. I don't have time to try to meet anyone. Mental problems and drugs are pretty bad. We have a few addicted to bath salts. Then theres the pills and other crap. All I do is smoke a little because it helps me sleep and helps with my back/leg pain. Overall it's not too bad once you get used to it. I'm a night owl so I'd rather be awake at night.
i just started working nights in a bar - it fucking sucks, especially with school and having really fucked up sleeping patterns. i usually sleep 9-12 hours comfortably. now i'm working on 6-8...which i guess is normal, but it doesn't feel right lol
