Hello everyone ✨
| When I saw that this week's prompt is about sleep, I didn't hesitate to participate. I'd like to thank @anttn for this initiative. |
|---|
I and sleep have history. Growing up, it was compulsory to sleep immediately after we returned from school. Our routine was quite simple: wake up, freshen up, have breakfast, go to school, return from school, freshen up, eat and sleep. As a kid, I was always pumped with adrenaline so sleeping wasn't always fun for me. I remember pretending to sleep on a few occasions when my parents came to check in on us in the afternoon and once they were gone, I was back to jumping on my bouncing bed with my siblings.
Time passed by very fast and the next thing I was the one craving sleep. In highschool, I had a very tight schedule and couldn't afford adequate sleep. I always spent the next day looking like a zombie. The downside of all this was the fact that I was always packed with so much anger and indifference whenever I didn't get proper sleep.The routine kept repeating itself till I graduated from highschool.
Then came college. This was the worst part because there were lots of expectations from lecturers. Jumping from one lecture hall to the other and trying as much as possible to grab every little detail spewed out of the lecturer's mouth. But my body couldn't cope anymore. I began having a mental breakdown. I knew my body couldn't carry the dilemma anymore and so I made a schedule that constantly involved me sleeping for at least six hours at night and for about two hours in the afternoon after lectures. My schedule was carefully timed and it helped me sleep instead of getting involved in certain unnecessary occurrences.
Things started coming off well and I began having maximum concentration in my lecture halls. I wasn't dozing off during lectures anymore and my face for one looked brighter and more cheerful.
This makes me remember an experience I had. It happened that I went back home from school for the weekend all I wanted to do was to sleep and eat. This was before I made my grand schedule. I dropped my bag and jumped on my bed. This was around 2 pm. I didn't get up from that bed till 2pm the next day. My mom came to check up on me thinking I was sick but she saw that I was still breathing fine and I asked not to be disturbed. In these 24 hours of sleep, I didn't feel hungry. I woke up feeling better, like a burden had been lifted off my shoulders.
Fast forward to the present. Sleep and I have become tight buddies. I ensure that I get the right amount of sleep each day and if I don't get the right amount of sleep today, I will make it up to 'the sleep' the next day. With this, my body has been able to function properly and I don't even remember the last time I had a mental breakdown.
There are some days where I have sleepless nights but I discovered a remedy for that. My mobile device is always packed with movies; both interesting and boring ones. I watch the boring ones when I want to sleep. The boring movies put me to sleep in split seconds and that has been and is still working out pretty well. It may not be the same thing for everyone. I would advise that you find that thing that puts you to sleep. For some people, it's cool music, to some, it's noise and for the others it's a breezy/ highly ventilated room.
In all you do, remember that you can't cheat nature. If you avoid sleeping when you should, you end up sleeping when you shouldn't.
With love, wongi ✨