Sleep as an issue.
Both this and last year have been quite strange around this time of the year for me. I haven’t been able to sleep like I usually do, sleeping 10–12 hours rather than my usual 6–8. A couple of weeks ago, I realised what was happening to me, and that it’d happened before.
Last year, I talked about this phenomena as a sleeping issue. Like it was something bothering me, and something that I couldn’t control. Like a problem that needed fixing. It didn’t become better from me whining about, or even trying to fix it. It just was.
So when I realised what was happening this year, I made a decision. I’m not going to view this as a problem or an issue. I’ll listen to my body to hear what it needs from me. I’ll surrender to the fact that this is the way things are right now.
That’s not an easy mind shift, or at leas it wasn’t for me. It’s a result of some struggle, trying to fight off thoughts that have been truths to me — Caspian needs 6, and a maximum amount of 8 hours of sleep per night.
When I started doing this, I bypassed an effect of my sleeping pattern that actually was an issue to me last year. I overslept more times during a week last year than I’ve ever done before in my school career. This year, I haven’t overslept once.
Instead, when I really need to get up at a certain time, I do. Not hardly, I just do. It’s like my body’s saying “You’ve been nice to me for the past couple of days, I’ll give you this one.” And it just does. We’re in a conversation now, my body and I, that we weren’t last year.
With this, I want to encourage you to listen. What does your body need you to do? How much sleep do you really need right now, and how can you get it?