I’m still low-key amazed by how much better I sleep without a snoring bed partner. Since the beginning of the year, I am naturally waking up earlier and earlier without any effort. A decision, yes: when I wake up around 6 in the morning, I could decide to laze around and doze for another while, but I decide not to. But not an effort. I wake up alert and rested.

Initially I had the alarm set for 7 so I could wake Adrian for school. Then I started waking up before the alarm. Now I have it set for 6:30, just for peace of mind so there’s no risk of oversleeping, but I’m almost always up earlier than that.

I can be packed and dressed and ready to leave for work shortly after 7. And that’s after also having emptied the dishwasher, folded the laundry and watered the plants.

Or I can have a lazy morning and read the newspaper and scroll reddit and still be ready to start my day in the home office at 7.

The snore-free bedroom may not explain all of it, but it certainly does feel like my divorce has given me an extra hour and a half of time every day. That’s enough to fully compensate for the free time I “lost” by switching to working full time instead of 80%. Not bad.