Sleep is my new life goal.

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This year has been a wonderfully packed calendar of exciting news at work, and it's only March. I've been assigned to do many shifts, including news reading for a couple of stations and reporting live from different parts of the city. My schedule changed almost every day, and I had to go to bed and wake up at different times depending on what I had to work on for the day.

Yesterday I finally settled into a shift that I can stick to for the next couple of months. I now read the morning news at the top of the hour on the first and only Pinoy radio station in the country, and I couldn't be happier. I start my first bulletin at 5 in the morning, effectively kickstarting the day's programming.

But it also comes with a big challenge: adjusting my daily schedule. Every day I have to wake up at 3 in the morning, tiptoe to the bathroom, give myself about seven minutes to look decently dressed for work, grab my lunch bag and dash out. I'm at work at half past three, and I produce my very first news bulletin for the day, ready to go on air at 5AM.

I finish work at 12 or earlier, and by that time my body is at odds with my mind. It's tired and wants to go to sleep, but my mind - after a day of churning out fresh information and broadcasting it to potentially 645,000 listeners - still wants to keep going.

I have no idea when bedtime is and I seem to just zombie my way through the night, but other people on the morning shift say it'll get better. I just have to get used to a routine and stick to it, no matter what. So let's try that tonight shall we.

But despite my mild rant, I really enjoy being around my lovely colleagues and being part of something that has the power to keep people informed and entertained. It's worth sacrificing a few hours of Zzzz on the first few days.

In the very near future, perhaps knowing that I am on the right track and my efforts are appreciated will be enough reason to sleep at night.

Or a good brand of sleeping pills.