It is 11 a.m.
I have been awake for 90 minutes.
I’ve eaten breakfast, cleaned out the TiVo a bit, played some Frozen Free Fall, caught up on Facebook and Twitter.
I have not showered or done homework or read any of the dozens of books I’m in the middle of reading.
My friend Lynne taught me the phrase, “our greatest strength is often our greatest weakness,” and I think about that idea when it comes to summer.
Summer’s greatest strength for me is a chance to truly relax and not be beholden to alarms or schedules. But that is also its greatest weakness, because here I am, three weeks in to summer break and I’ve managed to destroy my sleep cycle.
Two nights ago, I stayed up until 2 a.m. reading a book. Last night I turned off my light at midnight.
Still awake at 12:45 (my mind goes on fantastical worst-case scenario trips if not distracted prior to sleeping), I turned on a movie to lull me to sleep. I’m not sure what time I actually fell asleep, only to be awoken at 2 a.m. by an Amber Alert.
The new curtains in my room keep out the sunlight, so I slept until 9:30 a.m.
This is summer, right? This is what I’m supposed to love about it, the staying up late and sleeping in later. And some days I do love it, but then I think that August isn’t too far away, and the 5:30 alarm will be back in regular rotation and what am I doing to myself now by staying up so late and sleeping so much when in two short months I will have to relearn how to survive on six hours of sleep so I should be going to bed at 9 and waking up at 6 just to practice!
(This was part of the 45 minute meltdown prior to last night’s late feature film.)
Rest is good. Vacation from routine is good. I’ve kept true to my summer word, discipline, by completing assigned tasks every day.
Maybe I need to add “enjoy this season of life” to my assigned tasks. When August gets here, I’ll recalibrate then.
