I refuse to observe DST this year

Every year around this time, my ability to enjoy the arrival of spring is severely impacted by the fact that I'm struggling to adjust my circadian rhythm to what we all know is the worst idea we've ever had as a society—daylight saving time, or DST.

So, this year, I'm gonna try opting out.

I think it's rather telling that I had a plan to do this a few months ago. Then had this persistent impression I was getting the direction of the time adjustment wrong. I went back and forth like this for awhile. And I'm the person who thinks way too much about time in my job.

Today, though, I have it all figured out.

My workday currently roughly runs from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. It would be a ton of extra stress on both me and others introduce "Mattie Standard Time", so I'm just going to change my workday to 9:30 to 6:00 PM.

The trick is—it hasn't actually changed, in reality. Just in the realm of imaginary time we call DST. 9:30 AM is really 8:30 AM. We just call it 9:30 AM so we can continue to work with the rest of the world while they shuffle on in a fog.

I get up at 7:00 AM now. I'll get up at "8:00" when DST kicks in, which is, again, in reality, 7:00.

What will change is the time of meetings I take. The client I'm currently working with is in Central Time already, so the meetings won't have any trouble fitting into my "new" workday. They will land at an earlier spot in the workday, though, so I will have to rearrange my morning routines a bit.

I had a chat with my partner about this. I am a little concerned about coming home and shifting dinner an hour "later". But they're also aware of the number DST does on me every year already, so it's something we'll try and see how it goes.

I also spoke with a colleague who has done a similar experiment. They found that it worked out rather well. They also found that—as I suspected—as sunrise and sunset naturally moved as we moved into summer, the time they would naturally wake did as well.

I've been threatening to do this for a few years now and this is definitely the year I'm gonna go for it. I've always been, compared to my peers, an early riser, so I'm expecting it'll go well as far as interfacing with the rest of the world. They may even think I'm suddenly one of them.

Wish me luck. And let's finally kill DST one of these years, hmm?