You're Awake And Cursed, So Why Don't You Feel It

It's 2:00 A.M., and you find yourself at your computer, or in bed with your laptop open, your fingers somewhere between singing on the keyboard and frozen in time. It's the curse, and you're definitely suffering from it tonight. Some nights are different. Some are restful. Others are pure torturous hell.

The curse of an active mind, or active imagination, or worse...both, can be daunting when it comes to sleep. One might swear they were in Egypt, on an archaeological dig, and cursed by an accidentally unearthed mummy. Perhaps the mummy was a scribe of the great pharaohs of old, and was put to death using one of the ancient ways, a very ancient, very dark way.

It's funny how the wonders of the mind can affect some people. There are many, believe it or not, who are gifted with the ability to get eight hours of sleep. Others are cursed to roam the Earth as zombie-eyed creatures, appearing human, but never truly knowing. They're too dammed tired to know what they are.

For many, the curse of active imaginations, or overactive minds, sounds like pure hell. But if you break down the human experience, one might argue the opposite. They might argue that the cursed ones are truly given a gift. It's a matter of two entirely different problems.

Time

Time is a commodity that you can't buy. It's not like oil, gold, or enriched uranium. Not that most people are looking for the latter. Nevertheless, time can't be bought.

However, if you're cursed, forever roaming the Earth without enough sleep, you do receive time.

They say that six to eight hours of sleep is important for optimum health. If you've heard that, you probably consider what it means. For optimum health, you must sleep 1/3 or 1/4 of your life away. Essentially, you will sleep for one out of every three or four years of your life.

Sleep four hours a night, and you get back a year every eight years. Over an 80-year lifespan, you'd have gotten to do an extra ten years' worth of living. So, are you cursed, or were you given a gift? It's up to you to decide.

Productivity

What did you do with the extra time? That's a question you'd ask at 80, if you were finally figuring out the gift you received. What do you think your answer will be?

The time is valuable. But are you able to use it to its fullest potential?

Many of us have no doubt spent a restless night, tossing and turning, desperately staring at the void of night, wishing we could fall asleep. We know that we're going to be miserable tomorrow. We're going to have to go through the fatigue, the exhaustion, and the drudgery of another day. Or, on the opposite side of that, the jitters, heart palpitations, sweats, and abused feelings we'll experience from unsafe levels of stimulants.

How many 5 Hour Energies, energy drinks, caffeinated drinks, or worse, can your heart take? Then, when you do get home, you can't sleep because you've clinically overdosed on stimulants to stay awake.

Why not get out of bed and do something? What do you have to lose? If you utilize the time, finding some moderation or balance between sleeping and being sleepless, you can get more done.

Again, are you cursed, or are you enjoying the gift of time?

It's now 2:20 A.M. Central time. And I can't decide if this is the curse hitting me tonight. It could be that I've been gifted a few hours to get things done. Sure, I could be sleeping the night away. But who knows, maybe this will benefit me more.

Takeaways

It might not be a curse to miss out on some sleep. We do sleep a significant portion of our time on this planet away. As someone who has never had a healthy sleeping pattern, I know that it can be used to your benefit, sometimes.

In life, things can appear to be a curse. It can seem like the Gods themselves are out to get us. But it's all a matter of perspective. Sure, sometimes some things will make you miserable. But that's a response to something, and that's all you.

However you choose to respond to the stimuli in your life, whether it's positive or negative, is an emotional response. By remembering that, you can decide to take the extra time from something as simple as a sleepless night as an opportunity.