Are you wondering how to fight sleep? Do you have a million and one things to do and don’t have the time to do it? Are you in the middle of a project that could make your life better if you had the time? Are you finding yourself on the bring of crawling into your closet, curling up in a fetal position and closing your eyes? Are you trying to squeeze in an extra half hour to get shit done? You’re not alone. In fact we’re meeting today. Right now. Yes, that’s right! Read on to see how I’m successfully fighting sleep!

Since February, I’ve become an unexpected mom. Did you know there were more ways to have children than having sex? OMG, I didn’t either! If you did, why didn’t YOU TELL ME!

Anywhooooo, I’m a little sleep deprived so I wanted to share what I’m doing to fight sleep! I highly suggest you NOT do anything on this list as it will effect your health in a negative manner.

1. I DRINK Starbucks beverages that have espresso in it. Tip: Ask for an extra shot or two depending on how long you want to be up.
2. I THINK about your personal finances right before you close your eyes. The Lord knows how much I have to pay in credit card bills and loans from my college years. I have put it in his hands and I believe that this debt is all temporary but it still keeps me up at night. It’s like an eternal alarm is set to remind me that I have a bill due tomorrow and I have to go online to pay it. Except that the alarm is broken. I’ve paid my month bill and its weeks before the next one. Yet the alarm in my head keeps going off. This is my least favorite way to fight sleep because it makes me feeling anxious. Its a similar feeling to leaving the house and wondering if you left the stove on with food cooking on it still.
3. Create a schedule you can’t control. Children will help you do this. If you don’t have a child you may borrow mine 🙂 If you have more than one child even better as you start to get schedules that conflict and you find yourself doing a ballet ensemble.
4. Insert what keeps YOU up at night so I may have a larger selection!

I write all this to tell you that you’re not alone. Millions of us are fighting sleep every day to get everything on our list done. We’ve become great at juggling, prioritizing and crying silently on the inside. I know you’re beyond exhausted and now I understand why that guy carrying the two coffees early this morning barely blinked as he crossed the street without looking up. I totally got him this morning!

Just remember that sleep deprivation is dangerous to you, your health and the people around you. Your body needs sleep to heal and repair itself from the everyday stresses. If you are not sleeping enough you will eventually feel the effects and become a zombie. You won’t become the flesh eating kind but you might not be able to tell the difference. You will gain weight. You can have headaches. Your appetetie could change. It’s not pretty, look at my picture above!

This is all temporary. This is all temporary. This is all temporary. This is all temporary. 

This IS all temporary. I repeat this about a thousand times a day. I also look around to see who can help me. Take a minute to look around at the people who love you and would help you out if you really needed it. Figure out when to schedule in some YOU time. Thank you Biba for that pep talk! I’ve been using my MoviePass and heading to the movies a few times a week. Look for lots of upcoming movie reviews. Take a nap. Go to the gym and exercise for 15-20 minutes to get the blood flowing. Scream into your pillow. Leave the pile of clothes to sort through til the weekend. Don’t drink the coffee an hour before you have to go to sleep. Remember to take care of you.

If you don’t take care of yourself no one else will. If you can’t take care of yourself, how can you take care of anyone else? Stop fighting sleep and figure out how to get some more. We’ll talk about your findings next week!

What’s keeping you up at night? Are you a zombie too? Do you look as crazy as me? Please say yes LOL What helps you?

Until then,