There was a time when I treated lack of sleep like a personality trait. “Oh, I can function on four hours,” I’d say. As if that was impressive. As if my body wasn’t quietly filing complaints with HR. The truth is, I wasn’t thriving. I was surviving. And not particularly cheerfully. Now add in parenting, caregiving, a kid who has his own very specific sleep opinions, a cat who believes nighttime is social hour, and perimenopause showing up uninvited like, “Hey bestie, you up?” and suddenly sleep feels like a group project no one agreed to. So this week and heading into the new year, I’m changing the goal. Not “power through.” Not “push harder.” Not “I’ll sleep when everything is done.” (Because spoiler: everything is never done.) The goal is sleep. Real sleep. The kind that makes your patience longer, your reactions slower, and your brain slightly less feral. We’re working on better wind-down routines. I’m giving myself time to get the extra thoughts out of my head before bed instead of letting them run a full TED Talk at 3 a.m. And I’m reminding myself that rest isn’t laziness. It’s maintenance. Especially when you’re parenting a child with extra needs, sleep isn’t optional. It’s foundational. When we’re rested, everything else works better. Our regulation. Our problem-solving. Our ability to laugh when things go sideways. So as we head into a new season, I’m starting here. What’s one thing you want to work on moving forward, and how much could better sleep actually help you get there? If you need me, I’ll be attempting to go to bed before my cat does. 😴💙
My big goal over this week and heading into the new year is finally getting serious about our sleep patterns. We're working on wind down routines. Rest isn't laziness. It's necessary. What's one thing you really want to work on moving forward?
Let's talk about sleep. Okay. The quality kind. Yes. Beautiful sleep. And my big goal over this week and heading into the new year is finally getting serious about our sleep patterns. I'm declaring it. This has got to be the year. I mean, there were so many years when I wore my lack of sleep like a badge of honor that oh, sure, I can survive on four hours. No, I couldn't. I could press on, but was I thriving? Absolutely not. And now add in my kid, my cat, my perimeter menopause and sleep feels like a group project I did not sign up for.
Now that said, I do have a plan. We're working on wind down routines. I'm giving myself more time to get extra thoughts out of my head before bed instead of letting them throw a party at 3am And I'm reminding myself that rest isn't laziness. It's necessary. And I don't need to conquer everything at once. I just need to start right here. So now I'm curious. What's one thing you really want to work on moving forward? And how could a little rest actually help out with that?
