Читать книгу Above and Beyond - J.S. Dorian - Страница 33

“Sleep is better than medicine.”

ENGLISH PROVERB

Our ideas about sleep occasionally become convoluted. We begin to think of sleep as a guilty pleasure rather than a vital necessity. We envy men and women who claim to get by on just three or four hours of sleep a night. We then decide that sleep prevents us from fulfilling our daily responsibilities, when in fact just the opposite is true.

In order to overcome such distorted views, we might want to think back to the way we felt after surgery, radiation, or chemo treatments. We were tired all the time, and that wasn’t surprising; our wounded bodies needed to be healed and rejuvenated with lots and lots of sleep.

The point is, sleep is not optional. It is a vital healing force that has become more essential than ever in our lives. When we try to “get by” with the same amount of sleep as we did when we were healthy, or try to skimp on sleep because we feel guilty about it, we do ourselves a serious disservice. So let’s give ourselves permission, not just once in a while, but every day, to get as much sleep as we need.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

I will rest, and rest some more, and heal.