I Need a Nap

How irritating is it when you ask someone how they are, and their answer is always, "*SIGH* I'm so tired..."  We're all tired, buddy.  Come up with something else, unless you are seriously dead on your feet.  That being said, ever since last week's battle with allergies, I've been exhausted.  I haven't been this tired since my son was a newborn.  The world is swirly, my head hurts, my body is stiff and I'm in a horrible mood.

I laughed until I nearly cried this morning when my kids told me I needed to sing this song.  Go ahead.  Listen.  It is awesome.  It is one of our family favorites.

If you don't feel like listening to it, the song is called "I Need a Nap", by Sandra Boynton in her book/album for kids called Dog Train.  It is a duet with Wierd Al Yankovic and Kate Winslet.  It perfectly epitomizes how it feels to totally need a nap when the world around you keeps moving.  When you just need everyone and everything to just STOP so you can lay down and fall unconscious for a while.

When I go to bed at night, my mind is racing, my body aches and I just can't get rest.  I know this means that I really need to meditate and stretch before bed...but I'm just so tired.  What a whiny, vicious circle I find myself in.  I can't sleep!  I'm to tired to take care of myself!  I am stiff!  I'm too tired to stretch!  I'm too stiff to sleep!

It feels like another song on the album called "Tantrum" (performed by The Spin Doctors).  The words are awesome.  Yes, it is from the perspective of a 3-year-old...but it channels my inner child like nothing else.  "No, No, No!  I don't wanna!  I don't wanna!  No, No, No!  I don't wanna! No! No!"  As the song goes on, the tantrum changes.  From the things the child doesn't want, suddenly he is demanding those very things and has no idea what he really wants.

Being too tired is not what I would necessarily call a beautiful thing.  However, it has really caused me to struggle these last few days with what parts of my self-care are truly important.  I realized an interesting thing: Every part of my self care is vitally important.  In fact, I need to do even more.  My husband has told me twice already this week to stop taking care of everyone and just take care of myself.   So I decided last night to take a bath with some lovely lavender-rose bath salts...only to find there was sediment in the faucet so all my bath salts ended up in murky water that I couldn't soak in.  *sigh*  I need a nap.

I am not one to spend all kinds of money on spas, manicures, fancy meals or expensive haircuts, but I do need to rethink my self-care routine.  Am I eating what my body needs?  Am I getting the right exercise?  Do I shower every day?  Do I have a regular skin-care routine?  How about my hair and my clothing?  Being tired forces me to stop and really weigh what matters, and I have realized that I need to take better care of me before I will be any good to anyone else.

I need a nap.  No...I need to meditate and stretch before a hot shower at bed time and get a full-night's sleep.

I deserve BEAUTY in my life!