catching up on sleep

vacations can be hard on a person. every morning while we were gone, i awoke between 6 am and 7 am (sunshine in the window). that doesn't sound like a trial, but it was. i usually stay up until midnight, 1 am, 2 am, or 3 am creating stuff on the computer or reading. the next morning i arise at 8 am, or 9 am and proceed with my day. it works well for me, a night person, and having the right amount of sleep at my right times keeps me pretty happy.

i knew the vacation was going to be a stretch for me and gave it my best. but pretty quickly i could tell that my body wanted to sit down with me and discuss this new paradigm. since it was a necessary but short-lived routine, i simply soldiered on.

but last night it caught up with me. i worked on cropping some of the pictures i'm going to mount on the walls, and finally shut down the computer at 12:50, brushed my teeth, and was in bed at 1 am. i awoke at 7:10 am (cockaleakie), went back to sleep, dreamed various and delightful dreams, and re-woke at 1:20 pm just as hubby stuck his head in the bedroom door and said, "i was just coming to see if you were okay." wow. more than twelve hours. haven't done that in a long, long time.

the moral of this story -- don't listen to scientists or do-gooders who profess to know what you should do about sleep. listen to your body and do what YOU think you need to do, even if it doesn't fit with anyone else. and be patient with the masses, who sleep differently than you do, when you go on vacation.