Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Daydreaming


The NFL football season has ended. The sport that draws the most attention here in the United States will put some people into withdrawals now that the Superbowl is over. This year I watched the Superbowl with my family. Well, at least the first half. My wife and I let the kids stay up past their bedtime to watch the first half. My wife and I were not far behind the kids to bed this night. It was nice not to have to stay up and watch the whole game because of the lopsided score this year. Yes, we go to bed earlier than most. 

When I was young, I always marveled at the adults who woke up early in the day. My wrestling coach admitted that he loved waking up at 5 a.m. every day. At the time, I couldn't even imagine waking that early every day. I like to sleep almost as much as the next guy, but I would also rather be awake and enjoying that time. It was hard however, to get myself around to spending more of my time awake and less time asleep. Finally, I had a friend who put things into perspective for me. This was in college when I my classes started at 8 a.m. while my roommates started their business, english, and political science major classes closer to noon. But anyway, they stayed up into the morning hours every night while I tried to hang with them until midnight. I remember finding out that they had stayed up until 6 a.m. one night, then went to class for 11 a.m. How they could manage perplexed me. My friend told me why I should try to stay up later more often. His perspective was simple, "you will get plenty of sleep when you die."

This did little for my rational thinking, but it hit a key note with my imaginary mind. You see, we are all gong to die. It's not pretty, but it's true. We will one day fall asleep forever. So why spend more time than necessary in sleep? We only have so much time, would we rather be dreaming or fulfilling those dreams? My friend helped me to imagine what I could accomplish by being awake more. 

I enjoy my moments of solitude. Morning has become the best time to cash in on that. So I made an effort to become more of a morning person. This allows me to fulfill a desire to have time to myself. To watch the sun come up. To have daydreams I can remember and that can inspire me instead of night dreams I can't always remember or are filled with things of fantasy such as flying.

Losing sleep isn't for everyone. Some people operate on the bare minimum as it is. I am finding it harder to cut back on sleep as I get older. But I still daydream about waking up before everyone and watching, listening, and feeling the peacefulness of a spring morning. The time when the rest of the world is still asleep and I am blessed to be the only one taking it all in. Breathing the cool, fresh air and feeling it fill my lungs. Hearing the birds chirp between the sounds of silence. Watching tiny clouds float past overhead in the vast blue sky. Thinking about how beautiful and wonderful this life is. And daydreaming about how I fit into it.

If you don't do this already, I recommend picking day to wake up early and doing nothing at all except being with your own daydreams; observing the world we live in; and enjoying a moment of solitude. If nothing at all, it sure is relaxing.

Enjoy Life.

Coach Randal Suozzo, CPC, ELI-MP
www.coachsuozzo.com
www.facebook.com/PassionDiscoveryCoaching