Midnight Letters Prompt #14 /// How would I would convince an early sleeper to stay awake
Convincing an early sleeper to stay awake is like trying to convince a cat to take a bath. At first, there's a lot of resistance. But once they really feel how warm the water is ( or in our case , how cool the night is) , they never want to leave.
If had to bring an " Early Bird " over to the Dark side, I'd use three pillars of Midnight productivity: The Game , The Rabbit Hole ,and thr Screen.
I'd tell them : " Watching a movie 🍿 at 2:00 PM is a distraction; watching it at Midnight is an experience. " When the house is silent and the lights are off, the screen becomes your whole world. There are no pings from your phone or cars driving by. I'd convince them by picking a psychological thriller or a cinematic masterpiece and promising them they haven't actually seen the film untill they've seen it in thr vacuum of midnight.
For the intellectual early sleeper , I'd bait the hook with a deep dive Topic that demand total focus. There is a specific kind of "Midnight Intelligence" where your brain becomes a sponge 🧽, soaking up obscure facts and complex theories that seem too dull during the noise daylight hours. We would start with a single curious thought and follow the trail through articles and documentaries until the sun threatens to rise. By the time they look at the clock, it's 1:00 AM, and they've forgotten they were ever tired.
The Gaming Trap. This is the ultimate weapon. I'd set them up with a controller 🎮 and a game that has a ' just one more level " loop. To really light a fire under them, I'll challenge them to a match at night, confidently telling a bruised ego and the need for a rematch. Once that competitive adrenaline hits , their body's" sleep mode" gets completely overridden by the drive to win. Before they Know it, we've been playing for hours just so they can try to get that one exclusive victory.
The way I'd truly convince them is by showing them that Midnight is the only time you can be selfish. During the day, you belong to your boss, your family, or your chores. But at midnight, you believe to your hobbies. Whether we are leveling up, learning something new, or getting lost in a story, these hours are a gift 🎁 we give to ourselves.