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Yeah I totally get that. I only love Vegas and the heat because I work from home, I have a pool, and I can pretend to be semi-retired. If I had to work outside I would never want to live here, sounds miserable. I don’t know how these people do it, like these solar contractors last week were wearing long sleeved shirts and long pants because of working with electricity but that still really sucks! They were mostly in the garage so it’s shaded but it was extremely hot just sitting there watching them for 10 minutes and I was wearing gym clothes. I love the heat but provided I can engage with it solely on my terms not be subjected to it lol
I actually cover my whole body when I work as well, but thankfully I get breaks in my car. Can't get too much AC since I make frequent stops, but it definitely takes the edge off. I'd love to do something else but I have a sleep disorder and fall asleep at irregular times, wake up at irregular times. Sometimes fall asleep at 3am, sometimes 3pm. Sometimes wake up at 5pm, sometimes 8am. Been trying to wrangle it into a schedule for years and years but I'm wondering if it's time to look for a career that doesn't require a static schedule. Not easy to find. But yeah, that's the thing that makes the heat the most difficult, for sure. I used to deal with it by spending time outdoors at night, usually running or biking or walking around a lake, etc, since I'm wanting to avoid the sun after being in it during the day, and I can't do that here since there's these giant roaches that fly at you everywhere outside, and I'm a huge weenie about them, so I'm too afraid to leave my house at night. Otherwise, hot places can be great! Walking through Vegas at night in the summer is like walking in a warm, comfortable bath.
Yuck I hate roaches, that’s disgusting! Fortunately I haven’t seen many here, I did see one dead out on our pool deck but we have pest control so never seen a live one here anyway on the property. I’ve seen a few on sidewalks here and there, but who decided that roaches should be able to fly?!? Aren’t they disgusting enough without that? I had a roach one time in my condo in LA because at the time I smoked, I left my window open smoking out the Juliet balcony for a few minutes, then walked away, and later that night had a roach that must have flown in on the 6th floor. It hid under the media cabinet and I played a game of cat and mouse with it for like 3 hours. After I killed it, the next day I was so traumatized I went and bought a bunch of wire mesh at Home Depot and other supplies and started protecting ducts and anything else I could find just in case. But eventually I realized it had to come through that open window. In 4.5 years living in that condo, I never once even had a spider or any other bug at all. Those modern, luxury condos are too sealed up to see bugs ever unless you leave a window open. It was so stupid, though. So I don’t blame you with roaches.
I run my own company and definitely appreciate setting my own hours. If I’m talking to someone in person I lie to them (because they’re already dumbfounded) and say I sleep about 4 am to noon, but that’s a blatant lie as I never go to bed that early. It’s more like 5-6 am and wake up at 1-2, or even 7 am and wake up at 3. I don’t really care, still gives me the entire afternoon to swim, plus my best friend 3 days a week is able to game online midnight to 5 am or so. He’s a police officer and he works night shift, so it makes sense for me to be up late to maximize time I get to game with him anyway.
I’m only up at this time (now) because I had an inspector for some home improvement project come today and now back to sleep I go. Ha ha.
I lived on that schedule for many years. I think when I am on any kind of regular schedule, it's usually 4-6am until 12-4pm. Then I start work at 5 and usually get off by midnight. When I try to get on a normal schedule is when my circadian rhythm gets completely messed up. Just stayed up 24 hours yesterday and slept for 3 in the middle of the day. At this point I think I need to regulate myself with caffeine and melatonin. What kind of company are you running?
I'm considering a move to Spokane at the moment (unless I come up with a better idea). I'll probably have to find different work, and boy is it impossible to find flexible work. So I think I'll have to just force myself on a schedule. Probably not the worst thing in the world though. I was just reading an article that mental health outcomes worsen considerably in hot climates, and the theory is because it disturbs sleep. I've been really getting put through the wringer these days and I can't help but wonder how much it's due to my sleep issues, and how much they are due to the increasing heat. Can't afford to keep apartment as cool as I'd like. Not to mention I can't earn enough money if I'm not awake during peak earning hours, so it's a complete nightmare.
I've actually just started being more honest with people about my sleep schedule (mostly doctor and dentist appointments when they insist I come in at 9am). I think most people sort of look down on it unless you tell them you work "night shift", then they just feel bad for you.
Haha well yeah there’s a lot of that in society, I have zero interest or concern for what the average person thinks, about anything, so I don’t let it worry me. For the most part if they want to play that game I don’t have issues with putting them in their place and telling them I make more than they do, I’m richer than they are, and can set my own schedule as I see fit. I don’t ever like to play that card until someone makes ME feel bad for doing what I want, then they can revel in their misery and see how it feels to have someone poo all over their reality lol.
For me, I couldn’t take the dreary, rainy, always indoors nature of Portland and the heat and sun is what I thrive on, what makes me feel happy and content. I got to the point I told my wife I don’t want to move, I AM moving, I can’t take this any longer. I’m glad she was supportive and has loved the change. I don’t have or accept the existence of a “circadian rhythm,” don’t get me wrong I’m sure most people are chained to that sad reality, but I’m just glad it doesn’t mean anything to me. I sleep when I’m tired and I am awake when I’m not, there is nothing in nature, no light or dark, that affects that at all. It can be light outside or dark I don’t care, not my issue, if I’m tired I sleep. I can’t imagine being controlled by an external force like that, as so many seem to be, that seems like a crummy existence. I decide the rules of my life, not some external force that acts upon me lol.
I am sure if you can’t keep your place cool, that would affect your mood. Summer, winter, whatever the case, the indoor temperature isn’t affected by external factors either. I have it the same year around pretty much. I may keep it a few degrees colder *downstairs* in the winter because I just wear more clothing, and higher in the summer as I live in shorts and a T-shirt or tank top, but it’s not a big difference. That does help!
I run a marketing company, but stepped away from the day to day around 2018. Now it’s mostly passive income along with other passive income investments. A lot of hard work for a decade to get it into the shape it is now, but I have great employees and am able to take it easy which is just fine by me!
I've never had anyone (at least in recent years) literally say something bad about my sleep schedule, but sometimes I get the impression that I'm not considered an upstanding member of society. I think that's due to being low income. I was smart in college, highest marks in my classes and majored in math and physics, did really well in my career, but just couldn't take it anymore doing 9-5. I never adjusted to that schedule and would sometimes fall asleep at my desk. I was insanely depressed. So now I traded in those problems for a new set of problems - being in poverty so that I can at least feel rested. I'm sure I'll eventually figure out some higher paying gig, but the thing I realized is that once you get into poverty, you have trouble getting out due to the expensive and time consuming nature of having less money. The whole experience has been eye opening. At this point I'm ready to get back into IT, even though I hated working on computers all day, at least it would be a way out of this situation. I've done a decade of hard work since getting out of college and I have nothing to show for it, which is the difference in being working class and being an entrepreneur.
I used to really like the heat, and I'm very cold sensitive - I go from too hot to too cold within a couple degrees. It's hard to find a place that's temperate but not too hot or cold. Bf doesn't like rain or snow or low-light, so one of us is going to be unhappy no matter what. He seems to be happiest in summer when it's dry, hot and sunny, and that's when I tend to be most depressed. I'm getting the impression he wants to stay in Austin, so maybe I'll try to stick it out, if I can manage. The heat isn't even at its final form at this time of year, and a day hasn't gone by since it started that I haven't been irrationally irritable. But I'd rather be irritable than live with someone who's angry about the rain or snow. How did your wife feel about the change of climate?
I'll be honest, that is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. The attitude you've experienced is extremely common, it's normal. But it's NOT OK! We have come a long way as a society in so many ways. I understand that in today's society, I get labeled "far right," but I reject that because I have many close friends who are gay, at least 5 in fact, I love them all. I have fought alongside them and these are my family, I will not tolerate ANY discrimination against them. But then when it comes to sleep schedules, people are unnecessarily cruel. If you sleep 8 hours per day, are you not doing the same thing everyone else is doing?! If you slept 4 a.m. to noon, you're awake the same 16 hours anyone else is awake, right?! We live in a society that seems to think "sleeping in" is lazy and working early is valuable, regardless of actual work.
Don't EVER feel bad for how your body reacts, how your body behaves, because I can tell you that it's just how you are built. Everyone else might want to judge you, but I'll never do that. I DID get up early in high school, I was so depressed, I struggled with it for years. In college I set my schedule and I graduated in 3 years! With straight A's and a single B. I am not a morning person. I am jealous of these people sometimes, because society is built around them, but WE are the MAJORITY! The TINY minority of people are morning people, but the vast majority of people are "intermediate" and "night owls" and work should start around 10:30 a.m. at worst. Just because you're living in a backwards world doesn't mean you're some sort of loser, it means you're doing your ABSOLUTE BEST to adapt to a world not suited to you and you're really trying to make it work. You have my respect.
I will tell you, if this is any consolation, I worked so hard in my business for so many years. I slept most nights thinking, gosh, I'm such a loser. All of these tech guys are billionaires, how stupid am I? I must be the biggest loser. I worked my BUTT off every day, and 7-8 years later I was making $30K/year. How do you have much self-esteem with that? if anyone on a forum attacked, I couldn't even disagree because I felt the same. What. A. Loser. But then 10 years later, I started making 6 figures for barely any work at all. I made $112K last year and worked for 94 hours. The entire year. I relaxed, I enjoyed movies, video games, swimming, and do I feel guilty? HECK NO. I put in my time, I worked the hours, and now it's time for me to make money without working. That's my right, I earned it! I'll make almost twice that this year for the same amount of work. That'll be my reality for the next decade, at least. There are plenty of people who want to make you feel bad for "not working hard," but I did that, and now I get to see the other side of the coin.
My wife really hates the heat, by the way. She is a wedding photographer, so she's often out in it, and also she's like my mom. My mom hated the heat, HATED it (deceased age 54, breast cancer metastasized). My uncle and I are built for the heat, we love it, but not everyone is. My wife loves the sunshine though, she loves her business here, she loves that it makes me happy, so overall she's probably 7/10 happy. I'm 10/10 because I'm a freak - I love the heat. But look at the reality of the situation. I'm semi-retired, I can just swim all day, sit inside in the AC, I have passive income investments that make me $250K/year, so I'm looking at $35K/month for sitting inside and swimming, what's not to like? My wife works hard for her money and has to be outside a lot. I really respect her, though, she never looked for a free ride, a sugar daddy, or anything like that, she wants to be someone herself and she's doing that. I can't lie though and say "she loves it here." She prefers it here, compared to Portland, she is conservative now like me. She was "leaning left" years ago, but after the pandemic, she is far right like I am. We both don't have any tolerance for what we've seen the last year. None. We don't want to live in a place that opposes our values and if this place turns crazy, we are prepared to move to a deep red state like Idaho.
You mentioned earlier that you now sleep when you're tired and wake up when you wake up. I really do think this plays a huge role in depression. It is a shame that so many of us struggle because we can't conform to these schedules, that our country (and a large part of the world) thinks working during most of your waking hours for most of your life is acceptable, especially when many are without jobs and many with jobs aren't actually productive at every working hour. I think 6 hours of work per day would change things for the better for most people, while achieving the same amount of work most of the time (based on actual observation of people going on these schedules). Most employers I've worked with want you to be a certain kind of person, and I stopped trying to lie to them about being that person, because I'm just not.
30k? I would love to make that much. I probably make half that. I used to make hourly plus commission as a computer technician, which isn't the most skilled job in the world, but it's not the least skilled either, and I had a career open to me if I wanted it. But, I quickly learned that I was going to need to figure something else out that didn't involve sitting in an office or a shop, wasn't customer-facing, and was on my own schedule. I've considered technical writing, but I have yet to pull the trigger on any path yet. Education and certifications are expensive and time consuming, and I've already made the wrong choice too many times to count, so now I'm handicapping myself with decision paralysis, but it is what it is. I still feel like I'm in a better place, despite how rough things are right now, than when I did the 9-5 with 2 hours of commute every day.
That sucks that she hates the heat. I totally get it. I'm in and out of my vehicle all day long, and today I think I managed to not get cranky and irritable about the heat, so acclimation is possible. But it sounds like it's still a step up from where she was prior to this? I understand wanting to be somewhere where your partner is happy, since it's so nice to be around someone when they are in a good mood. Maybe one day you can take turns and she can live somewhere that's a 10/10 for her.
Lol I considered moving to Idaho but it seemed too conservative for me. But Portland is probably on another level, I'm sure. Extreme political ideologies on both sides aren't without their problems. I suppose I usually vote democratic, if I think about it, but I strongly believe that partisan tribalism is destroying the country.
I prefer San Diego, Tucson, Sedona and Albuquerque to Oregon. Western Oregon is dark, dank, cold and depressing for at least half the year. It really weighs on you. Hiking in 34 degree rain is no fun. I'd visit in January and then decide.
Haha my wife knows unless it’s for political reasons (state has gone crazy, etc.) I am never moving from Las Vegas. This is my home and my favorite city in the world. I’ve wanted to be here since more than a decade ago, and it took almost that long to make it happen. This is the last stop for me, hopefully, otherwise our great country has gone too far down the toilet and leaving here may mean the country too, but where else would that be? So I can’t imagine leaving.
Keep your head up, I’m sure you’ll find a path that makes sense for you with work and making money on a more reasonable schedule. I agree though, so many people hilariously talk about working 8 hours a day. Virtually nobody really works much at all, it’s such a complete lie, I’m just honest about not working that much. The average person thinks “working” means they show up somewhere and they got paid to be there for 8 hours. That isn’t working. That’s getting paid. I get paid 24 hours a day because money comes in constantly, should I take credit for working that entire time? Of course not. The average employee will do like 7 minutes of actual work in an hour, but pretend they worked for an hour. No, you were physically present at the job for an hour, you didn’t work for an hour. When I work, I literally clock in and out. So I’ll clock in for instance at 1:05 pm and do some tasks, clock out at 1:21, then in again at 2:15 and out at 2:23, etc. So if I say I worked for 2 hours in a day it’s because I did in fact work for 2 hours. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t present for the same 8-10 hours anyone else is. I could easily pay myself a salary and play make believe like everyone else lol I just don’t see the point.
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