On Being a Professional Cat-Napper

For the past five years, I thought being tired all the time was just part of my personality. I could nap anywhere. A couch, a car ride, a sunny patch on the floor. Give me a Saturday afternoon with absolutely no plans and guarantee you would find me on the right-hand corner of my couch with a blanket and droopy eyes. When the clock hit 7:00pm I would begin my getting ready for bed routine, and my friends came realize the unlikelihood for me to respond to any texts past 8:30pm.

I joked that I was simply entering my thirties and embracing my true calling as a professional cat-napper. It turns out, you aren't supposed to be tired all the time. Me-OW. Who knew?

I've ascended an intimidating learning curve lately that our bodies are constantly trying to communicate with us. Author Elizabeth Gilbert once said, “Listen to the whispers before they become screams.”

A little more sleep.

A little more rest.

A little more kindness.

A little less pushing through.

I spent a long time wearing exhaustion like a personality trait, almost as if being perpetually tired and going to bed early was something to laugh about.

But now, I am trying something different! More listening, resting and paying attention, because maybe being a professional cat-napper wasn't a character flaw after all. Maybe it was my body asking me to sit down for a minute and finally hear what it had been trying to say.