Seeking a Different Kind of Productivity

A permission slip to put yourself first

Hey, hi, hello! Today is one of those rare summer days with overcast skies and cool temps, and I am writing to you from bed. The window is open, and it’s starting to gently rain outside. I’m sipping coffee and have my sights set on an afternoon nap, and the plunk, plunk, plunk of big raindrops coupled with the crisp, salty breeze blowing in is creating a pretty ideal scenario for me right now. 

I love sleeping! But I never take naps. 

Photo by Kinga Howard on Unsplash

After a fitful and interrupted night of sleep, I woke feeling poorly rested and have been slogging through the morning. Now, the baby is napping, and for the first time since she was teeny tiny, I found myself thinking, “If the baby is sleeping, maybe I should sleep?”

I felt the reflex in my body to push through my exhaustion and do a million other things—work out, do the dishes, clean the carpet where the naked baby peed on it yesterday, do laundry, consider our next meal, I’m probably behind on work?, ad infinitum.