"Who needs sleep?"....ME! (and so do you!)

On Wednesday, after I created that very unhappy post, I got to take part in one of the best professional days ever! The best part was that at 10:30, we were able to take a yoga class with one of the dance teacher at my school! It was excellent (and I was able to check one thing off my "30 before 30" list!).

I totally did that pose.

Ok no I didn't.

(I am the most inflexible person ever. I'm amazed that anyone can sit and reach their toes. Seriously.)

I really loved it - it was relaxing, challenging, rewarding and most importantly, stress relieving! I've since then looked up the schedule of yoga classes at my gym and am planning on trying to make that a part of my week on a regular basis. I think that it will be great for so many reasons.

I've also just kinda chilled out the last couple of nights, which is great. I've loaded up the first couple days of the week. On Monday, I teach all of my private lessons (4 voice students) and on Tuesday I have choir rehearsal for 2+ hours. So Wednesdays have become my evening of doing whatever I want. Tonight I actually fell asleep and woke up too late to go to my church choir rehearsal :-/ but I know I needed the extra nap.

It took me a few years to realize just how bad it is to not get enough sleep. It was at the point where I was teaching and would lose my voice almost completely by Thursday because I was going to some kind of rehearsal almost every single night of the week while also waking up at 6 am. I would probably get an average of 6 hours of sleep a night, which is just NOT enough for me. Besides losing my voice, being tired also makes me cranky and irrational. It makes something that normally wouldn't be a big deal seem like the end of the world.

I would love to go back in time and tell myself this. I think back to the days in college when I would be awake until well past midnight having deep conversations and making all these emotional decisions. How ridiculous! Now whenever I'm on Facebook and I see my former students posting sad or depressing messages at 3 am, I just want to shake them and say GO TO SLEEP! I guarantee whatever is on your mind can wait until tomorrow, and it will DEFINITELY be a lot easier to deal with after you get some sleeeeeeep!

So it's all about balance. I love feeling rested and relaxed, but now I have to start working in some exercise. I think yoga will be a nice way back in, because it is something physical and challenging. Plus I'll be at the gym already, so maybe I'll make the effort to walk 20 feet and hop on a treadmill!

...maybe...