I'm serious about this title. You think it's sarcasm. Mm-hm. I know what you're thinking. But it's ok. As you probably read in my first post (Is Writing from the Heart Really Worth It?), people will think what they're gonna think. So go ahead. Think it. It's a free country. But let me also tell you what I'm thinking. It may change your life--maybe even your entire world.
It was 1pm today and I had just about completed the first thing on my list. Yay, that sounds good, right? No, it doesn't. Usually I get all three of my major writing projects for the day finished before noon, often before 10am. But here it was 1:00 already and I had three short paragraphs to go before I would be done with only the first part of my first project. (Yeah, don't ask where the time went. Between laundry, checking on my gay social networks, not literally; I'm just mad at them right now, and deleting worthless emails I was now at 1pm. Can't cry over spilled milk. Just have to suck it up the best you can with a straw. No pun intended.)
As I pushed myself toward those remaining paragraphs I knew they would take me way longer than the three minutes they should take, so I did the persevering thing…and laid down for a nap. I promised myself one hour.
Ok, now say what you want to say. "You should have just finished then you could have marked one thing off your list and at least felt a little successful, if rather behind on time still." But my mind doesn't work that way. I would have been pissed to take 20 minutes on a 3-minute job. That would have opened the door to The Downward Spiral. Does anyone know what I mean when I say that? An hour later you find yourself hating life, hating yourself, hating those you love and hating what you love to do. So you sit for another hour and analyze what made you start feeling this way. And you track the whole pile of crap back to one tiny thought you let in, now two hours ago. Yeah, for me that thought woulda been "You took 20 minutes to do a 3-minute job??' You could have been taking a nap for Christ's sake! Literally, for HIS sake because he works through your rest. He knows your body has limitations so that's why he gave you the ability to SLEEP. Quickly assessing my situation, I knew the only thing that would help me feel successful was to get an hour's rest then hit my work refreshed and able to work quickly.
Anyone ever played The Sims? It's a game on PC and Playstation 2 (and maybe other systems, I don't know). Sounds funny, but that game taught me something. It's a game that simulates real life. You create a character, choose their outfit (they can change outfits too!), choose their hairstyle, skin color, etc. Then they live in a house and you move them around and have them eat, sleep, hang out with friends, choose a job, get raises. Even if you're not into game systems anymore, you would still enjoy this one. I started playing it at age 31 after I already thought game systems were extremely childish. (Yay younger boyfriends that make you young again!) Anyhow, your "Sim" has bars that say how low they are on sleep, nourishment, comfort, socializing and so on. Until this point, life had been difficult for me to figure out. I thought everything had to be spiritual. You know, read your Bible when you'd rather be reading the latest bestseller. Pray when you'd rather be watching a movie. Don't go to the movies because someone might think you're watching an R-rated one. (But watch the R-rated ones at home where no one knows you're not forwarding any sex scenes or muting the cuss words?? I know, doesn't make sense. But I fell for it too, for THIRTY YEARS! Guess the joke's partially on me. Lol) And there's the ever-famous one, DON'T SLEEP, cause lack of sleep is somehow spiritual. I don't know who came up with this shit but it's pretty hilarious. Like those random state laws like "No one will hereby carry a duck on top of a refrigerator across the road." I don't know that this one is actually a law but it's a very close example of ones I've read about.
So there I was playing with my Sim (sounds kinda perverted, huh? Haha. Just kidding.) and I was trying to get her dishes washed, make some phone calls to friends, run her to the toilet before she peed herself, then suddenly, she just crumpled to the floor. I hadn't been watching my sleep meter. When it reached zero, my Sim shut down, just like that, snoring loudly. No matter what I had been doing with her, she could no longer go on. Her body took over and shut her down. That's what happens to your real body when you don't get proper sleep and rest (yes, they are two different things).
I read that 10-minute naps help, 30 helps more, 1 hr is great, 90 minutes lets you complete the sleep cycle and is the most beneficial. I may not have gotten the medical explanations quite right, but it's what you believe that changes your life, right? (Placebos anyone?) So if you believe it the way I wrote it and it improves your life, to heck with correct terminology. People want words they can understand, not a book they have to read that's joined at the hip with the dictionary.
After my hour nap, I hit the computer again, got my three paragraphs done and the other stuff on my list. That nap was the only way I could go on--could persevere and see my projects through. It gave me the power I needed to get more done in less time. Sometimes the greatest act of perseverance is lying down and taking a nap so you CAN persevere.
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