Monday, July 13, 2009

Sleep Deprived

All my life I've had trouble sleeping. When I was younger, it would take me hours to get to sleep. My mom deemed me the "night owl" of the family. I would stay up really late, roaming the house for someone to talk to...and then sleep until late afternoon. A lot of the night I would just lie in my bed and think. I also rarely slept through the night. It was normal for me to wake up 5-10 times to adjust or peek at the clock.

Early in my relationship with Matt, I didn't sleep for other reasons. Okay, now get your heads out of the gutter! Here's the thing. Because Matt lived in Virginia and I lived in Indiana, we only got to see each other for long weekends once every couple of months. I would literally lie in bed and watch him sleep all night. I didn't want to waste a single second of my time with him sleeping. I just wanted to be with him...to feel his arms around me and have him close. It was something I got so little of and wanted more than anything. This would be especially tough on my last nights with him. I would just stare at the clock, watching my time with him slip away until the alarm would ring and I would be forced to leave the place I wanted to be the most.

These days, things are different. I no longer experience the trouble I used to have getting to sleep. Sure, there are days when I'm not super tired, but it is no where near like it used to be. I'm comfortable. I'm where I belong. I truly believe this is the reason for my improvement.

I will admit, it is still a rarity for me to sleep through the night. Perhaps I'm just restless. I'm used to it by now and it doesn't really bother me. I'm also a constant checker of the clock. Except this morning...

I woke up, chilled by the ceiling fan...and reached for more blanket. I settled into a nice, warm, comfortable position closer to my husband and closed my eyes to continue sleeping away the night. In rare form, I didn't look at the clock seeing as there was no way it was even remotely close to being the time to wake up. My eyes had been closed no more than 2 seconds when the alarm clock rang.

Not cool Monday. Not cool.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mondays are dumb. I hate them. Cute post!!

Emily said...

I hate getting comfortable and warm and then having to get up, ugh! I understand what you said about when you guys were dating long distance, I completely agree with you. I never want to sleep when I am with my 900 miles away man!

Shaina said...

Ugh!!! Hate that. Thinking you have hours left when in reality your alarm rings 5 minutes later? Probably the most torturous thing ever.

Okay, not EVER. But, you know. It's close.

A New England Girl said...

Stupid alarm clocks! Ugh... they just ruin EVERYTHING! :)

I too am a troubled sleeper. It was helpful in college when I could stay awake for days on very little sleep to accomplish work, but when break or summer came around? Oh, now that is when it became a nuisance. I hated always checking the clock or getting up to walk around so I wasn't just laying in bed.
Lately I haven't been having as much trouble, but I don't know the reason why. I love your reasoning behind your sleep improvement. And I am so glad it has happened for you. :)

Hope you had a fantastic weekend!

Lindsey said...

HATE alarm clocks with a passion, especially on Mondays!

Kristen said...

alarm clocks are evil!

THE Stephanie said...

Oh I hate that!! The worst thing ever!!!

The Shabby Princess said...

Stupid alarm clocks!

We actaully don't have a clock in our bedroom (I set my alarm on my phone)--I was a constant time checker and it's actaully really helped me sleep better because I have to reach for my phone, hit the thing to make the backlight turn on--it's actual effort to see the time now, so, I usually don't even try!

Lauren @ Dreams Take Flight said...

I hate it when that happens! I can definitely relate to watching the clock tick by time with someone you love though...my boyfriend is long distance now and I hate looking at the clock and realizing our time together is almost over. It's dumb!

Anonymous said...

A girl after my own heart! I'm a night owl of the highest degree. I just lie awake thinking of a billion things. Then I usually turn on the tv watching the dumbest infomercials

Anonymous said...

Oh that happens to me sometimes and its the worst! Glad your sleep problems are {mostly} solved. I can very much so relate though, I am an "alarm peeper" also :)

lola said...

Oh no! I hate when the alarm goes off and you aren't entirely expecting it!

Unknown said...

Are you sure you didn't fall back into a deep sleep? That's happens to me all the time!

Milltini said...

I have always been the same way that you were. I am trying to be more of a get-to-bed-early kind of a gal because I have to get to work so early, but I just find so many things to keep me up and entertained. Its even worse now that we have a television in our bedroom. I think the thing I'm looking for is a little thing called will power....

Brittany Ann said...

Oh, I have been there, sister! Well put!

the undomesticated wife said...

Waking up in the middle of the night...seeing every hour on the clock...I've been there! Thank goodness for naps though! When I was first diagnosed with thyroid disease, I had a very hard time sleeping, and I was always extremely tired (symptoms of thyroid problems). In fact, when I was working, I'd go out to my car at lunch to nap! Isn't that awful?! LOL