When I was in high school, I had early-morning seminary. I had to get up at 5 or 5:30 every morning. I always thought, "when I'm done with high school, I won't have to get up early every morning for seminary and then I will get more sleep and I won't always be tired." That wasn't the case.
After high school, I went to West Valley were I was on the soccer team. I had to take classes early because we had practice in the afternoon. Sometimes we even had early morning practices. With classes, practice, and work, I had little time to study and often stayed up late doing homework or studying for tests. I always thought, "when I'm done playing soccer, I will be able to take classes later and sleep in more and then I won't always be tired." That wasn't the case.
I transferred from West Valley to BYU and majored in athletic training. My major had small classes which were only offered at certain times and it involved an internship that required at least 200 hours per semester. My major classes were always in the mornings and my afternoons were spent with my internship responsibilities. That meant I did all of my study/homework/socializing at night. I always thought, "when I'm done with school, I won't have to stay up late every night studying and then I won't always be tired." That wasn't the case.
After graduating from BYU, I decided to get a Master's degree. I wasn't done with school, and my schooling included a graduate assistantship which paid for little for a 20 hour per week assignment. I had another part-time job in the mornings and my classes were at night. The late-night studying/homework trend continued. I always thought, "when I graduate, I'll get a job and I will be able to sleep in a little more and I won't have to stay up late every night studying and doing homework and then I won't always be tired." As you may have guessed, that wasn't the case.
When I graduated with my Master's degree, I did indeed get a job. But, I work in San Francisco which is an hour commute from where I live. The lack of parking in San Francisco requires that I park in a parking lot and then take two shuttles to get to my office. And I have to be to my office by 8 am most mornings. So, I get up around 5:30 am most mornings. I don't get home until after 6:30 or 7 most evenings, so I have little time to get done the things that I need to. I often have to stay up later than I should to get things done. I would like to think, "oh, when I have kids, I'll quit my job and then I'll be able to sleep in and then I won't always be tired." However, I've learned my lesson.
I know that when I have kids and quit my job, I will be tired. Because kids don't allow you to sleep in. In fact, they often don't allow you to get a full night's rest. And you keep so busy taking care of them, that you can easily get exhausted. And by the time they're grown and out of the house and you can finally get more sleep, you're old so you're just always tired no matter how much sleep you get. Therefore, I have relinquished my hopes of someday living a life being well-rested and full of energy and I have resigned myself to a life of sleep deprivation. It is my destiny.
6 comments:
I'm kind of sad for you now. There's almost nothing I cherish more than sleeping at least 8 hours a night. I make sacrifices in other areas to do that of course. Like no Project Runway (It starts at 11!)
You must be a Sunday napper. It must be your only free day! The worst is getting up when it's dark. So maybe things will get better the closer we get to summer.
This is making me sleepy.
Wow--this sounds somewhat familiar. With the kids, once they're in bed I'm like, "finally, time for myself", and I end up staying up really late just to do "my thing" only to be exhausted by being pulled from bed several times a night to feed the baby. At least at this point I could be slightly more rested if I just went to bed when they do. But, who wants to go to bed at 8:00?
The previous poster is exactly right. I slave away all day long wiping up barf, poop, dealing with tantrums, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, making sure my children have enriching activities, shopping (not the fun kind), teaching, and a whole lot more. When they go to bed IT'S MY TIME. And I stay up too late. And then the baby wakes me up at 4 and then they all (hubby included( wake me up at 7. My standard for restfulness has been lowered significantly.
Heck yes it is your destiny. Well, maybe we can hope that when our kids our teens we can sleep in. Or maybe when they are old enough to pour their own bowl of cereal and turn on the TV for Saturday morning cartoons. Although when you have kids you can sleep train. It took a few tries for me and Savannah but now she sleeps no problem. I don't sleep in but as least I get 8 hours if I go to bed by 10. I have to sleep or I am not very nice so Savannah goes to bed a 7 which give Josh and I three hours of personal time or together time. It will never be 100% satisfying but it is better than it used to be and I will take what I can get.
It's so true! Last semester I was so overwhelmed by that thought that I almost started crying. I realized that my life will never be calm. We do it to ourselves, you know. There are people out there who graduate from school without doing a million extra things on the side, get a normal job, work from 8-5, come home, and sit on their butts all evening. Not us. No, we want to do too much.
Booooooo. Don't tell me this.
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