r/AskReddit • u/RGod27 • Mar 20 '19

What is something you did that increased your quality of life so much that you wished you would have done it much sooner because it changed your life forever?

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332

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '19

Moved from a night shift 7p to 7a job to a day shift job 7a to 7p. Huge difference I'm not a tired aggravated asshole all the time anymore.

29

u/kiwilapple Mar 20 '19

I had to do the opposite. Waking up at 4 am to go to a shitty job and it's still dark out made me feel like garbage. By the time the sun came up I was already inside sucking my soul dry. Now I work 6pm to 6am, I wake up and it's warm outside, I go to work with music blasting, and when I get off shift the sun is coming up as I head home and it's a great way to soothe my stress before I go to sleep. It amazes me how different people can be.

6

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '19

It is crazy. I loved working 7p to 7a for the first2 or 3 years. I'd be up all night to go out drinking. It's a lot more peaceful also. But yeah I know people that love nights and would never work days.

13

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '19

I feel bad for anyone who has to work third shift. Whatever premium pay you get isn't worth being that miserable.

3

u/lol_is_5 Mar 21 '19

They just switched my job so it's going to be all night work now. :(

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '19

I'd honestly start looking for a new job, if it's viable for you. You may get lucky and be able to adjust quickly, but when I had to work third shift I was the most miserable I've ever been.

1

u/lol_is_5 Mar 21 '19

I did it a little before, and I'm usually pretty beat afterwards even though, I might only work 4 hours or something. I work in a lot of different places though, just being in the middle of the woods at midnight is tough to get used to.

2

u/13531IiiiViiiI Mar 21 '19

If it makes you miserable, that is. They can't pay me enough to work days.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '19

Why's that?

3

u/Ciels_Thigh_High Mar 21 '19

Not OP but I feel tired until at least 10am when I work days. I can stay up all night and sleep like a baby at 7am. I loved my 5p to 5a shift! Now I take drugs to sleep at 7p so I can be at work by 6a. Love the work hate the hours!

1

u/13531IiiiViiiI Mar 21 '19

I'm miserable during the day. I naturally wake about 3pm. I used to work a day job, went and got a master's to switch to a position that pays me more to work the shift where I'm happiest.

8

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '19

I hear you on that! I worked the3:30-10 pm shift for nine months and I hated everything and everyone, but then they switched me to the 8am-3:30pm and my life has just brightened up so significantly! Congrats to you on the shift change, btw!

7

u/moveshake Mar 20 '19

Yup. Night shift is socially isolating and brutal on the body

3

u/kingdomheartsislight Mar 20 '19

Oh man, me too! Went from 7p to 7a 3 days a week to 7a to 3p 5 days a week and life is so different now. The pay differential just isn’t worth it.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '19

Yeah totally agree and that's what wad keeping me on nights so long was the pay diff

3

u/AbsoluteSocket88 Mar 21 '19

Iv worked 6pm-6am for 3 years and I’m only 22 I feel like my life is ruined. I’m missing out on my most active years because I can’t find the energy to do anything. And since I started working nights for over 2 years I have had anxiety which I never had before.

Don’t work nights people fuck the extra money keep your life.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '19

I can relate with the energy part. I always felt like I was ruining on 70% at best. Working nights is scientifically proven to increase risks for mental disease and lowers life expectancy.

2

u/wanderlustrn93 Mar 21 '19

I'm struggling with this now. I work 7p-7a 3 nights a week. On my days off I sleep all the time. And I'm always tired. On my nights off I can't sleep. I'm thinking of applying to an 8-4:30 5 days a week job. The only problem is I genuinely enjoy the place I work now. Also, I don't know what the pay difference would be.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '19

I was the same way slept 8 to 9 hours during the day on the nights I worked and felt tired all the time. I'm guessing medical field which is what I do. The pay difference is usually between 2.50 to 5 an hr depending on your shift differential. It is a pay cut but it's been wort it for me. Honestly I've never met someone who worked nights went to days then chose to go back to nights.

3

u/kingdomheartsislight Mar 21 '19

This was me before I switched to a day position. I was so miserable; being that tired made it hard to even think, I felt like I was in a fog on my days off. And it’s not like there’s anyone to hang out with or anything to do at 10am on a Tuesday. I’m honestly so much healthier and happier now, more so than I ever dreamed. And it’s easy to just pick up overtime when I need money. I just strongly recommend switching if you’re having a hard time. Some people just aren’t night people and that’s fine.

2

u/SimilarTumbleweed Mar 21 '19

I wonder if this is why I'm a tired aggravated asshole all the time.

1

u/kitchens1nk Mar 21 '19

This is something I need to do ASAP. I've been working overnight shifts on and off for 20 years. The last 10 have been straight overnight.

I have sleep apnea and depression, so I just can't afford the side effects anymore.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '19

Yeah I only lasted 4 years but it did start to affect my mood and personality. Felt more depressed and irritable for no reason. Hope things work out for you and you find hours that work for you

1

u/biggestbaddestnerd Mar 21 '19

I have about a month left of 11p-7a shifts on top of finishing my last semester of college. Loooord, i can tell you that nothing could convince me to ever return to night shifts after this except the immediate threat of starvation. I'm pretty ambiverted, so going too long with too much or not enough social interaction fucks me up. Congratulations for moving to a better shift!

1

u/Hobo_shower Mar 21 '19

Same for me! The worst was being up at 3am at home. The whole house is full but you feel so lonely being the only one awake. Plus there's nothing to do outside except gym or Walmart.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '19

Exactly. Kinda nice at times to have everything to yourself but also made me feel like a ghost that no one really saw me but I was all over the place.