Me, about to sneak in a snooze
Sleep is my default setting.
What exactly do I mean by that?
Well, it means that when I’m feeling exhausted, down, overwhelmed, stressed, worn out, or sad, I take a nap. Nothing short of escapism, when life tires me out, I go to bed.
Perhaps some consider that laziness.
But coming from a single mom who works full time at a high-intensity job, runs two blogs, is raising one teenager at home and single-handedly putting a 20-year-old through college, I don’t consider it lazy at all. More of a coping mechanism. Maybe even healthy.
Sometimes life exhausts me. Perhaps it’s not just life. There might also be remnants of old health issues. Plus I regularly don’t get enough sleep on weeknights.
But more than that, I absolutely adore an afternoon nap when I can sneak one in, usually on the weekends. For some reason I find sleeping during the daylight hours simply delightful. (Which reminds me of one of my bucket list items, but that’s another day’s blog post!)
But the question remains, is it OK for sleep to be my default setting when life is wearing me down? Is it any better or worse than vices that others have?
Frankly, I don’t know. And honestly, I don’t care.
I used to be more concerned with what people thought about how I run my life. Now I’m a helluva lot more concerned with what I need and what works for me. And honestly, I’m not that concerned about taking an occasional nap, regardless of what prompts it. Especially since I don’t run my life around my sleeping habits. If it was taking away from activities or from my life as a whole, I’d be more concerned. And hopefully as I work to improve my weeknight sleep habits, perhaps my weekend napping might become more infrequent.
But I think I’ll always enjoy the luxury and decadence of slipping under the covers on a Saturday afternoon.
So ask yourself, what’s your default setting? Is it healthy or unhealthy? Can you live with it or do you think you should change it? The important thing is that you be honest with yourself about your answers and make changes if you need to. If not, carry on.