I am not getting enough sleep. It makes my mother crazy when I say that, but it is true. I am lacking in sleep and am constantly dragging. Since I can remember, back when sleeping was even on my radar, I liked to sleep. I suppose when I was very young it wasn't such a big deal, but as I got into my teens I craved sleep. I remember the feeling of waking at noon and stretching and feeling the cool, soft sheets and knowing that I had nothing to do but sleep. Saturdays were the days I could sleep late, if my parents allowed it, because Sundays football started at noon. It drove my dad crazy that I slept late, he being the early bird tugging at the worm, but my mother usually let it go on Saturdays.
When I moved to Florida and became responsible for myself I took a job where I started work in the afternoon. I was always a night owl and that didn't change as I got older so working the one to ten shift fit in nicely. I would go to bed well after midnight and sleep until I had to get up to go to work. Back then I didn't answer to anyone and life was carefree. As long as I got eight hours of sleep I was good to go. Then I met Tom. He didn't need much sleep and got up before the sun rose on the weekends to bike 60 miles, or run marathons, or swim in the gulf. He would talk about the beauty of the sun coming up over the water and he would try to get me to join him. I did it once that I remember, and while I had a nice time I preferred sleeping. The sun already up over the water looked just as nice to me.
When the first kid arrived I thought I would never make it from the lack of sleep. Madison wasn't a sleeper and could stay up late and be up early. She didn't want to take naps and if it weren't for my pediatrician insisting she have "quiet time" I might never have made it through those years. He told me to put her down in her room and tell her she didn't have to sleep, but that she did have to read or play quietly for an hour. While she was hopping around in her crib talking to herself I would be napping. When I was pregnant with the second one I would get up Madison, get her juice, plop her down in my bedroom in front of Sesame Street and catch another hour of sleep while she was busy learning her ABC's with Elmo. Yes, I was one of those parents. When the second one came out as a sleeper I couldn't believe my luck, but unfortunately Madison was well past the "quiet time" and TV watching at that point.
I need eight hours of sleep. I can go days without it, but eventually it catches up to me. As the girls got older I got more sleep. For a while there I was doing well managing my sleep, but when Madison started high school it reverted back to those days of babyhood. High School here starts at 7:05 which means the girls catch the bus at 6:30 which means we start awakening at 5:30. To get eight hours of sleep that means that I need to be in bed by 9:30 pm. Therein lies my problem, and last night I figured out why I just can't manage to do so.
From the moment my girls get out of school at 1:35 we are busy. Each girl has a sport, a club, or an activity that I have to run them to and from. Then there is dinner to prepare and homework to help with and before I know it is late evening and then I want some time to unwind. While most days I have that time for six hours during the day I am busy with the normal day to day activities, chores, and things. After then running around like a whirling dervish with the girls I want to just spend some quiet time myself . I can't just go to bed without having that because I will only lie there and think, think, think. While I noticed last night that we are finishing up earlier with the time change I have too much to do in the way of relaxing. It has been days since I took my turns playing games on the Ipad. I have taken out too many books from the library and they are due. My DVR is full of television shows and running out of room. I have obligations in relaxing that are not being met. So I try to fulfill those and suddenly it is midnight and I'm only going to get a little over 5 hours of sleep.
The other issue is that these relaxing obligations take up quite a bit of time. I'm not someone that can just read one chapter of a book and then put it down. I feel the need to play all the turns on all of the games I am playing just to "clean up" the little reminders that tell me it is my turn. And don't even get me started on browsing through facebook, my mail, and the Internet. Talk about sucking you in.
Somehow I have got to try to manage my time better to allow time for relaxing so that I can finally get the eight hours of sleep that I require. That I need. That I crave. Perhaps I shall approach it along with my need for getting healthy, bundle them all together. Or perhaps I shall go back to napping. Either way that is something I might have to consider as a new resolution for the coming year because the way it is going now I'm not going to make it. I'm tired.
No comments:
Post a Comment