Thursday, February 25, 2010

Lingering Nightmares

I have been prone to nightmares my entire life, so much so that as a child, my mom asked my doctor about my having them so frequently and with such intensity. It turns out I didn't just have good 'ol run of the mill nightmares, oh no, that's sissy stuff. For me, it was night terrors. I would scream and thrash and wander and well, just not really be able to get out of the scenario in my head. Since I'm a huge worrier, my doctor said it was likely that I took worries from the day and they turned into nightmares in my sleep. This was as a child!!! Can you imagine my worries, and therefore night terrors, NOW? Yikes is right.

I think it's partly why I'm not much of a sleeper. I'll stay up as late as I possibly can so that when I do close my eyes, I'm really out. I then sleep fitfully for the next few hours, waking up several times. There's no chance those night terrors can plague me with no REM sleep! Ah ha!

However, last night, I must have left my nightmare Kryptonite in my daughters room, because I woke up immersed in my nightmares over and over. It was night terrors all over again. I just couldn't shake the dream. Every time I'd wake up, I'd try to switch my brain to something more positive, and again I'd fall asleep to the same scenes. Sigh.

The problem isn't just the obvious lack of sleep, though of course that's not great either. No, the problem is I can't stop the dream and I can't get out of the funk once awake. It's 9am and I'm still upset about the Groundhog's Day that was my subconscious stream last night. It's a lingering fog that will stealthily creep behind me all day long.

I'm hoping my cure all will help alleviate some of the heaviness enveloping my day. I'm going to head out to the store and get a little TLC from shopping for some gifts. Tonight, I may be doing the late night fatigue dance all over again, but for the daylight hours, it will only be my debit card that will be exhausted!

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