Can You Beat the System?
Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS
It never fails.
You have a really big day tomorrow, and sleep alludes you!
You stay in bed turning and twisting but sleep just looms somewhere in the distance.
And if that’s not challenging enough, once you do fall out, you usually wake up a bunch of times. You’re partnering with the alarm to stay on top of this wake-up job.
Why’d you need to set that thing if your body is not willing to relinquish micromanaging wake up?!
You either give up and get up early or slip in and out of sleep till you hear an annoying buzz in the distance and wonder what that is!
Finally, you get up, shower, and figure you’ll get through the day, armed with whatever rest you’ve got under your belt.
But what happens? – All the stuff that you woke up early for inevitably runs late or changes course!
A trip – your plane’s delayed.
A business meeting – their plane’s delayed.
Your wedding prep – The hairdresser’s stuck in traffic.
A day with friends at an amusement park – the rain’s teeming.
You’re up, exhausted, and raring to go. And the world’s on a different cycle.
SLEEP – we spend our whole lives negotiating with it.
When we are little -we fight it. Because, it ends the fun, connection, and activity.
As teens we embrace it. At least in the early hours of the day!
Asking a teen to get up early is just as difficult as asking a little child to go to bed early. It takes the same cajoling, begging or bribing. And even then, it doesn’t go that well.
They say nightmares happen during sleep. But, for parents, this one happens daily before and after their kid’s address sleep.
You are viewed by an adolescent as the human alarm clock. And that’s no fun!
For them -YOU are that annoying buzzing that is heard somewhere in the distance.
But, in this case, your kid didn’t set it and has no desire to hear it!
Then, that former teen, has their first kid. And sleep becomes their greatest desire.
Not food. Not entertainment. Not social interaction. Not -even – money!!!!
They would trade anything they owned for a little extra shut eye.
And suddenly that same parent, who drove them crazy about sleep, is now the cavalry. If a parent shows up, they hand them the kid and run to pass out! The bed they so consummately avoided is now their best friend!
Often life goes around like this – you have a morning you can finally sleep late, and your body just won’t cooperate. Alternatively, you have to be up early, and you can just sense you’ve met your deepest most fulfilling sleep.
Still, there are those rare times everything comes together, and you get the rest you’ve been craving. Somehow the stars are all aligned and you have the time, the place, and the relaxation, and thus to your delight, you get an amazing sleep.
You’re a new person. The world’s your oyster. The universe is a bigger brighter place.
Ahhhh what joy, what joy …. and then night descends once more. And ….
It never fails!
You have a really big day tomorrow, and sleep alludes you!
You stay in bed turning and twisting but sleep just looms somewhere in the distance….
Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com