Waking up

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The flowers seem to be waking up to the warmer spring weather. The grass is green, the trees are filling in, and soon enough winter will be a distant memory.

Apparently, I’ve been waking up too, every night right around 1 a.m.

Most people would call it insomnia. But back in medieval times, it was actually common practice to have two sleeps: a “first sleep” shortly after dusk, followed by a period of wakefulness around midnight, and then a “second sleep” a few hours later before waking refreshed for the day.

During that midnight intermission, people would tend the fire, enjoy the peacefulness of candlelight, pray, read, or even visit with neighbors. So rather than becoming frustrated and labeling it insomnia with all the negative baggage that comes with it, I’ve decided to embrace it, for however long it lasts.

Heck, I may even get up and get a few things done around the house during my medieval sleep intermission. Though I doubt I’ll be visiting any neighbors… I’m most likely the only one fully embracing the medieval vibe these days.

Honestly, I already enjoy the diet. Tim would be the first to tell you how much I appreciate a great big tomahawk steak.

Somewhere along the way, we started placing rigid expectations on sleep patterns, as if everyone is supposed to get a perfect, uninterrupted eight hours every single night. And when we don’t, we somehow feel like we’ve failed at sleeping...A  little absurd considering how many other struggles we already deal with during the daytime. Don't put all those must-do's and need-to's on me at night! 

I refuse to let all the “shoulds” interfere with my daily, or nightly, life.

After all, I’m perfect just the way I am... at any hour.  

“The night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” — Vincent van Gogh