Have you ever felt so overwhelmed with life that you just want to lie down and take a nap? And then you do. And then it’s about 10 o’clock on a Tuesday night before your huge History exam on Wednesday morning. You try to study, but what you’re reading goes in one eye and out the other, so you just say “fuck it, I’m going back to sleep.”

Then you fail the test. You fail you and you fail life.

That’s me almost every day, except I’m sleeping until the moment before I have to run around on my daily routine, going through the motions so to speak. I am not gaining anything from what I do, merely achieving tasks that are not supposed to be mindless, but have become so because of the repetition.

Wake up. Brush teeth. Get real clothes on (optional). Go to class. Return to dorm to sleep for an hour before next class. Get shower. Get food. Go to class. Go to work. Return to dorm to sleep.

That’s my daily life, but it is far from what I want it to be. I feel like a toddler.

I find that my friends and I are on this never-ending quest to get more sleep. But we stay up until two in the morning most days. At the time I should be winding down, I’m winding up and getting hyper.

Sleep has become a class that I attend every day. “Yes, I’m majoring in Journalism and minoring in napping.” It’s like nothing is more important at that time of the day than catching some z’s. Like right now – I’m writing this when I would normally be sleeping.

See, I’m trying this new thing. I’m going to try to sleep only at night. I’m going to try to get at least 6 hours a night and not sleep in the middle of the day because it just messes me up. Twenty-minute power naps may have to be allowed because I don’t want to be a zombie on those days I can hardly keep my eyes open.

More time awake is more time to accomplish things that need done like studying and reading and homework. We all need more time, so why sleep the day away?

I desperately need to get my shit together. And, chances are, so do you. So let’s try this together.

No more Facebook stalking at 3 in the morning. No more shopping for new boots when you should be studying for that exam. No more sleeping every free moment of the day.

Staying awake today showed me how productive I can be at this time. My brain isn’t as mushy as I thought because of the four hours of sleep I got last night.

So goodbye comfortable bed, I’m going to tackle my day without that sleepy haze left after sleeping for a couple hours, but don’t worry, I’ll be back tonight to relish in a sleep worth waiting for.