SLEEP

It has been a very long and exhausting week. I. AM. TIRED. It’s been one thing after another and I feel like I have been running on fumes since Saturday. Last week I actually had 3 very late nights in a row and when I finally was able to get some decent sleep on Saturday and Sunday night I was reminded how vital sleep is to our well-being. If you are anything like me, you tend to overextend yourself, filling up your days with errands, projects and attempts to keep your house from decomposing. Since the beginning of January I've been trying really hard to get regular sleep and I noticed a big difference. I wasn’t nearly as ornery or moody or edgy for that fact. I was better equipped to deal with the challenges of my day and not let it throw me for the biggest loop, which inevitably would lead to an adult sized tantrum, whether inside my head or out for the whole world to see (or at least my husband and children).

Sometimes craziness is not avoidable. I need to continually remind myself to slow down and simplify. Working full time and having a family is challenging. There is always one more mess to clean up, on less meal that gets cooked, one more moment where I feel like I should be giving my children attention but also working on the loads and loads of laundry piling up. So when I do have free time away from work, it is jammed packed full of ‘things’. Most of those ‘things’ don’t really matter, not in that very moment, but I’m so busy running around I can’t stop to take a breath and realize that it can wait and isn’t going to keep me from entering those purly white gates one day. For me, sleep has a lot to do with this kind of behavior. If I’m tired and running on fumes, the key to not letting everything fall apart and me collapse in a heap on the ground? DON'T STOP MOVING. This is SOOOOO unhealthy and self-destructive. I can feel myself slipping back into that and there comes a point when the messes just need to stay and my head needs to hit that pillow. Therefore, in efforts to keep from reverting back to my old ways, I am going to focus this next week on getting sleep. We are all different. Some of us can function on little sleep and others need more. Listen to what your body is telling you and then do it. I tend to feel very groggy and sluggish if I sleep more than 7 ½ hours at the most. 7 hours a night is my goal; maybe 8 on a weekend morning but not every day. That is perfect, I feel rested and refreshed; ready for the day and have sufficient energy to tackle the daily ins and outs of my life.

I challenge each of you to take a look at your routine. Are you one that needs a little more sleep to ward off the mommy monsters or maybe a little less in order to feel a little lighter and energetic? Whatever the case may be for you, take a moment to re-evaluate and see just how much it can improve your day.

Happy Weekend!