A typical day, for me, looks like this.
I get home, drop everything by the door, and try to forget about the stress I left behind in my rainbow cat backpack. Maybe eat a snack, and then it’s naptime. I bring my cat with me, and we nap until about 5 o’clock, every day after school. It’s our routine.
This is the high point of my day. The second I hear the bell ring at 2:43, I know that it’s only another 15 to 20 minutes until I get to lay down and forget the world for a while.
Luckily for me, I have a free hour during first hour, which is when I get all my work done. Without it, I think I’d have close to nothing done. I don’t do schoolwork at home, after all, why should I study if I’m doing fairly well in all my classes? I don’t have a 4.0 but I’m still above a 3.5, so I use that excuse to nap for two to three hours after school. I am a self proclaimed nap queen. I am a nap addict.
It’s time to make a change, however. I don’t want to sleep away all the time I could be spending socializing (with what friends?) and studying. AP Bio this year is slowly killing me. I try; I look over notes every morning, but I still can’t seem to get an A on any test. My New Year’s resolution is to do well, I want at least a B+ in the class, and I know I’m more than capable. So, I’m deciding to end my addiction – or at least attempt to.
The first day of the End really didn’t work out how I wanted it to. The previous night I only got four hours of sleep (thank you, messed up sleep schedule from winter break), so I used it as a semi-excuse for taking a nap. I think, to most, that’s a completely viable reason for napping after school, but to me, it feels like I was slipping already, and it’s not a good feeling. I did manage to create a Quizlet for bio that has 66 terms, so I did do something productive.
Wednesday. I got decent sleep the previous night, and I felt fine enough to do more studying. For whatever reason, I’m still keeping my homework for first hour. In fact, I’m writing this in the library in first hour. I just can’t focus at home. I have a cute cat, she needs to be petted. At least I managed to study for bio for about an hour, and playing the Quizlet thing, which has so far helped me a lot. My boyfriend is noticing the negative change in my demeanor due to the lack of sleeping. I have a harder time being “nice.”
Thursday wasn’t hard. It was still weird to have a few extra hours freed up in my schedule, and I got extra work done. I felt kind of good about it. I went to bed around 9, and I felt good in the morning (well, less dead than usual). I thought it might be working out for me.
Friday was the hardest day. It’s the end of the week, I got up at 6, and the end of the week exam stuff was starting. Not fun. High stress. I had to go to my dad’s which just upped my exhaustion – I love seeing my family, but I’m not used to having to socialize after school and not have the freedom of choice to take a nap. This was a terrible day. I went to bed at 9 again.
Saturday came around, and I was busy all day. I was tired, I got up at 8, and I was forced into socializing again. No big deal, but I just don’t like socializing. I didn’t nap, though. I got a few hours of work done and made my notes prettier and more legible. Progress was in the making.
I did better than I expected. I didn’t take a nap most of the days and I actually got some work done outside of my free hour – which is something I need to get used to, because next semester I won’t have a free hour to get everything done, just seminar. And seminar is terrible for getting work done, in my case.
Plus, there isn’t going to be a time when I look back at my senior year and say, “Wow, I wish I napped more.” It’ll probably be more like “Wow, I wish I tried to make friends or join a club or study for that A I was capable of getting in bio.”
But, I don’t think I want to give up naps. I feel like I might be a better person with them – and my boyfriend can attest to that. I’m still a nap queen, although I now have a new ability to actually do work outside of school instead of napping all day.
