Wednesday 7 May 2008

To Nap or Not to Nap

I've learned a few things about me lately.


* Getting up early and getting time to myself to read and pray and plan the day makes all the difference
* Exercising really does help me feel better. I'm alive, I'm awake, and I feel great!
* I tend to eat when I'm too tired (the container of homemade oreos is now empty. Oh dear!)
* Getting to bed early is one of the toughest things to do!


Last night I stayed up too late. I was having such a good time catching up on blogging, surfing, and other little things like that. I figured I'd be okay just this once. Man was I wrong. I felt terrible today. My kids were totally irritating. My husband was irritating. I just wanted to scream at everyone!! I took Peirce to school and when I got home I decided I'd lay down for a while. Well, a while turned into the whole afternoon....but I think it was time well spent. When I got up everyone had changed - they were much less irritating! Also, Jill had some a huge amount of work on her science project. I was totally amazed at how much she accomplished. She had written up paragraphs on how plants make our life better, how plants reproduce, planned an activity for the kids to do when she presents her report, and printed off a ton of interesting pictures about plants. Amazing!!


So, today I've learned a few things:


* Staying up late is just not worth it
* If you leave kid's to their own accord, cut the nagging and scheduling and planning and dictating, they accomplish much more and learn much more!
* Next time I'm tired, instead of eating, I'm going to make myself lay down for 20 minutes



I usually just fight through being tired. I try to bite my tongue and persevere. If I stepped back and looked at my day though I'd probably find I don't accomplish a lot when I just fight through it. I might try a test and see if a short nap each afternoon changes my life much. I've read a lot about the benefits of napping. I'd be interested in hearing from people who nap and find it improves life.

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