The Only Black Guy in the Office

WFH Has Turned Me Into a Morning Person

Rise and shine!

The Only Black Guy In the Office
LEVEL
Published in
4 min readOct 5, 2020

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Illustration: Michael Kennedy

Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.

For much of the black hole that is 2020, I’ve woken up into the waking bad dream: oh, shit, this is still real. While quarantine restrictions have relaxed since the first wave of the coronavirus grounded half the planet, office life is very much TBD. The jury is still out on when we’ll get back into our ironclad daily schedules. And, to be honest, I’m not looking forward to that inevitable reversal.

Being forced to abandon my conventional schedule has given me the freedom to create a new, healthier one — a nice flow that starts from the moment I wake up. And as a result, I’ve started to see an overall change in my attitude towards workdays. Dare I say it? Ya boy is turning into a morning person.

I sometimes think back on my morning routine before the pandemic, particularly the role it played in my mindset. Weekdays would start by shining a light on my unhealthy relationship with my alarm clock. I’d set it for 7:30 a.m. knowing damn well I would mash the snooze button until 9 a.m. A low-energy playlist would help ease me into being awake and properly functional — Anderson .Paak, Solange

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The Only Black Guy In the Office
LEVEL
Writer for

Do you know him? Is it you? The trials and tribulations of a Black man navigating corporate life.