1.12 Dream - Naps

Bestest Friend and I are embarking on a new blog project. Each day of the month we will post a picture on a pre-determined theme and write a little something about it. The theme for the twelfth day of each month is "Dream."
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I am sure the letters and squiggles mean something to the folks who do road construction,
but this is meaningless to me. I laughed, though.

When I was young, four or five maybe, I remember waking up to my sister holding her finger up to her lips to shush me.  We’d go out to the kitchen and “make” our own breakfasts, pouring milk over dry cereal and orange juice into plastic cups. I remember coming home from high school with yet another story to tell about how I had watched someone ridicule my sister only to find my mother still in bed, unwakeable and unmovable.   When I last visited in October, she was asleep when I arrived and asleep when I left. My mother has, for as long as I can remember, slept a lot. We’re talking well over twelve hours a day, on average.  

I get the tendency to just sleep when things aren’t going well. I do it myself. I’m not a stress eater – I’m a stress sleeper. I’m not a stress insomniac – I can’t wait to hit the pillow. I’m not a stress exerciser – I’m going to just lay here for a minute… 

But I had to impose a “no nap” policy on myself recently. I can go to bed as early as I want and stay in bed as late as I want, but there is no sleeping in between.  It’s forced me to realize that I do need 7.5 – 8 hours of sleep every night, but I don’t need more.  And I shouldn’t need more because it’s not mentally healthy to dream your life away…

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To see what Bestest Friend wrote about the theme of the day, check out her blog, Too Legit To Quit.