Napping

I love to nap. On a rainy morning. On a sunny afternoon. Deep under the covers when it's cold. On cool cotton sheets when it's warm. There is nothing so satisfying as feeling tired during the day and having the opportunity to lie down for some shut eye.

I have the luxury of working for myself from home so a daily nap is almost always guaranteed. I'm fairly certain at this point that I could not get through a day without knowing the reward of a bit of sleep was to follow the completion of one more paragraph to my book or one more set of chores or one more friend checked in on. When Athena was still with me, all I had to say was "time for naps" and she would get up from where she was already sleeping, to join me at the foot of my bed. I know some of you are judging me a little for what seems like being lazy, but I'm just no good when I'm tired. Better for me to get a bit of zzz's than to create crappy results with my work. Which by the way takes place during all hours of the day or night on any day of the week so I make up for any time I may be sleeping.

My daughter came to me one night when she was in high school, up past her bedtime, near tears, because she was still studying (truth be told she had studied enough but she is an overachiever at heart), "I'm so tired but I feel like I should study more." To which I replied, "any studying you do now will likely not be something you retain because you're exhausted. And you'd be losing sleep in the process. Better to go to bed and rest, then get up and refresh your memory in the morning." This year during college, she texted me to say that she uses that lesson often. That put a big smile on my face. I wish I had followed my own advice when I was in college. The one and only time I pulled an all-nighter, I slept through the exam the next morning. 

So what's the moral of the story here or I am just trying to rub in the fact that I get to be horizontal during a "workday"? The moral of the story is when you're tired, rest. The body knows what it needs when it comes to sleep. You're not likely to accomplish anything of real value when you're tired anyway. Better to get a quick recharge to your battery. After one of these siestas, I always wake up clear-headed and ready to jump back into the remainder of the day... or night since I work when the muse strikes. It's 2:28am right now.

And with that said I'm going back to bed.