Sleep



I can’t really complain when it comes to sleep. It’s the first question most people ask or chide when they see my young baby- “Getting any sleep?!” I usually respond, “Actually, yeah, he’s a good sleeper!” But I’ve had my share of nights when his call comes three- four times. I still haven’t quite decided how I should handle the day following. Do I nap when he naps- disbanding my opportunity to “get things done.” Or do I stay up surrendering my chipper, joyful, content personality? I’ve found that on the days when I’m tough, and don’t catch those extra hours of sleep, I’m more irritable, less patience, and more consumed by what I don’t have. Right now, it’s not that big of deal. I can take a nap, and can usually make up for it by working extra hard later in the day, but what about when there are more chillens? How does one catch up on sleep then? I loved a point Julie Beck made. She said, you can’t work all four shifts. You have to pick which shift you need to be at the top of your game, and during which shift you can relax. If your most important shift is right when you kids get home from school, then see to it that before that you take some time to rest and recoup. You can’t do the night shift and all day- no one can.

This morning I realized that as a result of taking the night shift, I’ve been choosing not to take the morning shift. I was going back down with Scotland for his morning nap- and as a result not being there with Tom in the morning when he eats breakfast and heads off for the day. What a waste! I could sleep later when Tom wasn’t home. I decided, I’d catch a little nap later and go down so we could eat breakfast and read scriptures together. It was a lovely morning, and made the long day without him so much easier.

Sacrificing sleep is often the first resort when more time is needed. Yet, I’ve found that doing so just makes life harder. I loved the chapter in “The Happiness Project” when she talked about the virtue of happiness. Always being happy, isn’t easy, but it is a gift to the world. There are plenty of crabs out there- I don’t want to be one of them.

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2 responses to “Sleep”

  1. This is something I really struggled with. I wish I’d slept when Megan and Jeremy slept, especially since they both took naps at the same time until he was about 18 months.

  2. Hey Kjirsti! It was great to catch up on your blog! It’s so true – life is so much happier when you get enough sleep! I need to remember that! 🙂

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