Throughout my college career I think that it’s fair to say that I got enough sleep for a family of four. Waking up at two in the afternoon didn’t even phase me. Laying around all day and watching hours of television was my idea of a (very) lazy Sunday. Now? Not so much. On my days off from work I try and get up no later than eight in the morning and make my day as productive as possible. Now, since my shifts at the hospital rotate between days and night, my sleep schedule is all kinds of messed up.

One thing I learned after yesterday? LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. Honor yourself. If your body is telling you no then don’t freakin’ do it. Yesterday I learned that the hard way. After working two weeks of straight nights all I could think about was my ‘To Do List,’ friends in town and things happening that I was going to miss out on. I ignored all the messages my mind and body were sending me and attempted to stay up all day and get back on my normal sleep schedule. FAIL. By early afternoon my body began to retaliate and I felt horrible; like I had been hit by a Mack Truck. Not good. By early evening I was in extreme pain, my head was foggy and I just felt terrible all over. Well next thing I knew it was 8:00pm and I woke up to find myself still in my clothes and horizontal in my bed. Lord knows what I was trying to accomplish before sleep took over but in that moment I didn’t even care. After changing into pajamas and brushing my teeth etc. I went right back to sleep. Today, after almost twenty hours of sleep, I feel SO much better.

Moral of my story. Listen to your body and finish each day before you begin the next. Don’t go worrying about what is happening tomorrow until today is over. Maybe it drives you crazy to lay around and do nothing but nap all day; sometimes that is what your body needs. So do it. Don’t wait until your body has entered a state of sleep starvation, it will come back to bite you right in the butt; I promise.

Love and LOTS of sleep 🙂