Day 239: Sleepy Time

After staying up too late the week before, and spending a not particularly restful weekend in Nashville, Monday hit me like a ton of bricks.

Day 239's thing I've never done before was to put myself to bed before the sun went down.

Now, if you want to get technical, having worked overnight shifts in the past, I have gone to bed when the sun was already up. And yes, I've seen the sunrise having stayed up too late the night before and gone to bed after that. But this was different than both of those.

This was a self-imposed, 8pm, before-the-sun-goes-down bedtime.

As a kid, I hated having a bedtime, especially during the summer, because it usually meant going to bed before the sun went down. I thought I would have a hard time falling asleep considering I could still hear kids playing outside and neighbors exercising outside my house.

But as it turns out, when tired enough, my body will sleep when it is given the opportunity. It doesn't matter what time it is, or if it's light out. I read for a little bit, but I could feel my eyes getting heavy, so I put my book down and fell asleep.

The next thing I remember was waking up. At 11 pm.

I panicked when I looked at the clock, thinking it was 11 am and that I'd overslept for work. I reached for my glasses and then noticed that it was still dark in my room. I'd only been asleep for a few hours. I calmed down, easily drifted off again and woke up the next time, in the morning, feeling refreshed.

Going to bed early is a good idea. A great idea.

My co-workers may not agree, since my extra energy gave me an extra pep in my step and even chattier than usual; one colleague in particular accused me of shotgunning Red Bulls in the parking lot. I felt great, and I considered making an early bedtime a regular thing.

But Day 239 was a long time ago, and I haven't been in bed before dark since, so I fear that getting ample amounts of sleep regularly is just not in the cards for me. At least not while also trying to do a new thing everyday and write about it. Maybe I'll have to save getting solid night's sleep for when I'm 30.

I can't help but wonder, though, about when I stopped going to bed before dark? Was it when my parents stopped telling me I had to? Like piano lessons, did they tell me that I could do whatever I wanted, but that I'd regret it if I quit?

And naps? Why did I ever fight taking one and can we bring them back? I'll never complain about them again.

I'll also never fight going to bed before dark. Ever.