How do you "live your life" while working nights?

Most of us are in this boat and I'm curious how you guys do it.
A normal shift for me is 5 p.m.-1 a.m. and my normal days off are during the week. Most of the time, they are consecutive, but not always.
So my "normal" day means getting up around 10 or 11 a.m., checking email, facebook, maybe watching a DVR'd TV show. I go get the mail and walk the dog. Around 2 or 3 p.m. I run whatever errands the Mrs. asks be done. Around 4 p.m. I do the 3 S's (shit, shower, and shave) and hightail it to work.
After work, I usually stay up til about 3 or 4 a.m. and watch TV. Saturday night I will hit a bar with some co-workers for 2 drinks (since I make it for the last 45 minutes).
On my off days, I will fix dinner or we will go out. Weekend afternoons before work are spent running errands with the wife or catching a movie.
Some of my co-workers say they get up at 8 or 9 a.m. after working til 1 and take a nap before work...to them it seems more like a normal life for them. I think that kills your work effort late at night, since you are really at the "end" of your day.
A 9-5 job means you are up for about 5 hours after you get done with work. I have modified it to about 3, just to to have a "normal internal clock" at least...just off compared to "the real world" clock that most people have.
How do you manage your work and life?

 

My normal work day:

• Get up at noon
• Hop online to catch up on news, sports and my favorite sports journalism message board
• Eat lunch at about 2
• Run errands if I have any
• Shower, shave and get dressed for work around 3:30-4
• Get to work at 5
• Leave work at 1
• Sometimes grab a drink with coworkers, but not often
• Watch TV, read or use the Internet until any time between 4 and 7 a.m., then go to bed

 

I would stay up til 6 or 7...but my wife usually shows up at the door from the bedroom and goes:
"Seriously? What the fuck?"
And then vanishes back into the bedroom! LOL
She gets up at 6:45 for work, so me going to bed always wakes her up, she would prefer it earlier than later. I try to convince her that I will go to bed when she gets up for work, but that whole cuddling thing she wants prevents that! Ha!

 

I'm single, if you couldn't have guessed it. I don't need no damn ball-and-chain!

 

I can't imagine working those hours with a family. I think even writers who have to travel a lot (except maybe baseball) would still get to see their families a lot more...

 

You don't.

 

I work with a boatload of copy editors that have done this job for 20, 30, 40 years...they all have families and made it work.
My wife is due in Nov. so what out plan is, is for the baby to be in daycare from 7:30-11:30 a.m. and I will have him the rest of the afternoon until she gets home. I will have to switch my schedule from 5p.m.-1a.m. to 6-2 to accommodate that, but it seems feasible.

 

A copy editor I used to work with would use his lunch hour to watch a few innings of his kid's baseball games.

He would work until 1 every night, but would get up at 6 every morning to get his kids ready for school. He said, "It's one of the only times I get to see them..." That shit broke my heart...

I know people make it work and more power to them...

 

Actually, desk shifts are pretty good for seeing young children. I can spend 4-5 hours every day with our 1-year-old before going into work (and I start my shift between 2-3 every day).

And why wouldn't you get up early if it meant seeing your child? You'd really sleep in, or send the child to daycare when you have the chance to spend time with them? Seems a tad selfish.

 

I found that I fell out of regular contact with most of my friends, only occasionally saw my family and was only able to see my then-fiancee because she was out of work. When she got back to work, we barely saw each other except when she woke up and my days off.

I was lucky to see my friends once every other month. My family probably once a month.

 

Luckily, I have no friends.

 

His kids were in high school at the time. When kids are going to school from 8 to 3 every day, if you're working 4 to 1 with Tuesdays and Wednesdays as your off days, it's not ideal for family life. I applaud those who make it work...