Well, the strangest thing happened to me last night. Yes, I am telling you .... I slept. I slept for the first time in 9 days. For the past 9 nights (except last night) I woke up between 4:10 and 4:20am.. each morning. Wide awake. To add to that, life has been busy and I would go to bed between 11:30 and midnight each night. That means, not once have I slept more than 5 hours in 9 days. At first I blamed my H1N1 coughing. But really, the cough is pretty much over. Then I blamed hormones, since my internal temperature won't seem to stay steady anymore, and I am hot, then cold, then hot again (since my H1N1 vacation). Then instead of blame, I looked for solutions. My friends who have all had bouts of this gave me all kinds of solutions from Lemon Tea to meditation practices. Each night, before I went to bed I would plan a strategy on what to do to fall back to sleep at 4:10 when I woke. After several tries and nothing working, I began to plan a list of tasks I would do at 4:30am if I didn't get back to sleep. My last blog was completed at 4:30am, my spicy nuts were made (2 batches) another morning at 5:00am. Laundry, list making, email writing.... you can get quite a bit done when you have a 20 hour day.
The end result was, though, that I was getting thin on patience at work, leaving my purse at the cash register, starting my car... when it was already running :( Yesterday morning, my strategy was to NOT look at the clock. I was starting to think that I was wanting to wake up at 4:10 each morning. So, there I lay... a time junkie... trying not to look at the clock. It was sort of funny!!! Anyway, up I got at 4:30 to start my day.
Last night, I was so tired I was teary and stupid. It was Friday night and Terry and I didn't even eat supper. I had toast at 7pm... and Terry napped on the couch. I chatted on MSN, not wanting to nap... I knew that that would kill any chances of sleeping..
At 8:00pm, we started wrapping gifts, making the final shopping list, and planned a few meals. We wrapped for 3.5 hours, with a short intermission, when Jill and Mel dropped off little Miss Kelly, their small black lab. She will spend 2 weeks in the Peters Nut House, while they sail off to the Rock for Xmas.
By 11:30, it was done, the house was tidied and Kelly was planted on the bed, ready for her first night at the Peters. I was whiny when I went to bed, anticipating my 4:10 wake up... and I mentally planned what I would do (tidy the kitchen, which was filled with packages from work, all the boxes of chocolates, wrapped candies, mints, Xmas gift foods, that we had around on coffee tables and the floor, that had to be moved somewhere for the night, since Kelly is a food hound, and would make short work of any food item).
I drifted off in seconds, once I got in bed, and I woke at 4:20am. I barely remember it, but I did. I zonked out again, and woke at 6:00 when the alarm went off....I shut that off and then crashed again and woke at 8:30... 8:30..... I woke up with sore bones, dry lips, and bright white eyes... I had joy in my step as I stumbled to the kitchen to get a drink..... I SLEPT.....
Was it the stress relief of having all the gifts wrapped and the house tidy again, was it the comfort of a dog tangled up in my legs while I slept, or was it pure exhaustion that helped me sleep, I don't know. But I slept..... thats all I care about!!!
1 comment:
When I was working I was like that for about 10 years. I thought I just was one of those people who don't need much sleep. I would wake up at 3 and end up watching a movie or Law and Order. I never got up. Tooooo cold for that most of the time. But about 4 months after I finished work, I would have the occasional sleep through. Then it happened more frequently. Now it's odd if I don't sleep through the night.
But I'm glad you slept last night. It must be the stress of the holidays and work. Now you can relax.
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