by Deborah Globus, Milo & Sammy
 | A friend on FB challenged my advice that cat naps are good for you. (Well, I think it’s less a challenge and more of a “YES, PLEASE! Make this happen!!”) So, Lara, this one’s for you! I live for napping. I do. From the early days in HS when I went to bed too late and still needed to get through my shift at the local Waldbaum’s. To college – I could and did nap anywhere, as the puddles on the library tables will testify. (Yes. I drooled.) |
Then there were babies – a tough time!
Creative solutions for keeping naps going (until they were 5!) were a mandatory addition.
They’ve outgrown naps, now, but I still live by them. Sometimes I’ll catch a twenty minute nap on the couch in my home office right before the kids get home. (It’s easier to get up when you have someone to get up for!)
Sometimes I’ll curl up next to my honey and snooze an afternoon away with the promise of late-night movie viewing together.
Sometimes, like after a night in Brooklyn with my Brooklyn Crew (my women’s circle) I need to make up for the lack of sleep and I’ll crawl under the covers for a two hour snooze. (Note: Earlier in the day is better so I don’t mess up my bed time.)
The price I pay if I don’t nap is irritability and everyone in the house is miserable.
And sometimes, if I’m working on something – a writing project, a work thing or most likely processing something on an emotional level – I’ll “cocoon.”
I’ll curl up under the covers with the thing that I’m working on that’s stuck, with the intention of letting my subconscious have at it for a little while. Most days I’ll have to turn over and take notes. Once in a while I get nothing more than a little extra rest during a trying time.
Napping is a tool in my pack.
There’s plenty of ways that I go about it but no matter what approach I take I know one thing for sure. I am not, and have never been, someone for whom “powering through” works effectively. Sure I can do it, but the payback is a bitch and if it’s a creative endeavor it always suffers.
Better to take the gentle approach. Rest. Sleep. Give my body what it needs.
I learned this the hard way – I can fight how sleepy I am or I can go with it. Cat napping. It’s good for THIS soul. What about you?
Creative solutions for keeping naps going (until they were 5!) were a mandatory addition.
- They would nap in my bed.
- The littler one napped in his sister’s bed, thereby causing confusion about whether he wanted a big boy bed (no!) or a “big GIRL” bed.
- Then there was the “cozy corner” of blankets and stuffed animals and flowers painted on the walls.
They’ve outgrown naps, now, but I still live by them. Sometimes I’ll catch a twenty minute nap on the couch in my home office right before the kids get home. (It’s easier to get up when you have someone to get up for!)
Sometimes I’ll curl up next to my honey and snooze an afternoon away with the promise of late-night movie viewing together.
Sometimes, like after a night in Brooklyn with my Brooklyn Crew (my women’s circle) I need to make up for the lack of sleep and I’ll crawl under the covers for a two hour snooze. (Note: Earlier in the day is better so I don’t mess up my bed time.)
The price I pay if I don’t nap is irritability and everyone in the house is miserable.
And sometimes, if I’m working on something – a writing project, a work thing or most likely processing something on an emotional level – I’ll “cocoon.”
I’ll curl up under the covers with the thing that I’m working on that’s stuck, with the intention of letting my subconscious have at it for a little while. Most days I’ll have to turn over and take notes. Once in a while I get nothing more than a little extra rest during a trying time.
Napping is a tool in my pack.
There’s plenty of ways that I go about it but no matter what approach I take I know one thing for sure. I am not, and have never been, someone for whom “powering through” works effectively. Sure I can do it, but the payback is a bitch and if it’s a creative endeavor it always suffers.
Better to take the gentle approach. Rest. Sleep. Give my body what it needs.
I learned this the hard way – I can fight how sleepy I am or I can go with it. Cat napping. It’s good for THIS soul. What about you?
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