An afternoon of rest
“Naps are essential”. A clear and strong voice whispered inside me as I woke from a Sunday afternoon nap. The kind of affirmation I needed to hear in a moment where I knew I would soon worry if I had done enough with my day or afternoon. A resounding defence of choice from the part of me that knew more than I did about what I needed.
I have long been an advocate for napping, unashamedly telling people I try to nap everyday – in fact about 8 years ago I wrote an article. In defence of napping. At the time it felt bold, true and necessary. Now I find myself in need of reminding again. On the days where I feel the need to justify my choices and the value in my life to the world around me, napping doesn’t seem to be the choice to make. It is not the sunny, fun, carefree sunday I imagine everyone else to be having. Napping is an acceptance into nothingness, a deep embrace of the well rested life.
Part of me jokes that I moved to Spain to be in a country that respects a nap. The other part of me knows it isn’t a joke. But I wonder why I am now struggling to accept a moment to down tools, to stop ‘living the life’ and instead just rest. It turns out stepping into resting can be a whole lot harder than you think. Despite the fact the Naps are purported to offer many benefits including increased brain function and better decision making ( get me some of those) Napping is not something that many people seem to take up as a regular habit.
Some claim they are no good at it, which may in fact be the case for some of us. But others just don’t find the time. Instead we replace a moment of pause and rest for another injection of caffeine and the decision to power through. Because we are too busy, too important, too needed to take a step back and find ourselves in the quiet embrace of 40 minutes of sleep.
Which has left me wondering what cruel twist of fate has caused me to lose my nap due to fomo. The fear that 40 mins away somehow imbibes others lives with more meaning than mine?
They don’t have time for a nap. Instead of thinking about how tiring that must be, I ask myself what does that say about me? That my life is laid back enough to take a nap. Am I lucky I ask? Or just lonely? Unnecessary and unwanted for those 40mins. It is not a kind thought, but I wonder if I am alone in having it.
Which begs the question what has Fomo done to our own self preservation to step back. And if we hadn’t all just spent a year in a more quiet, reflective, slow state would we feel such fear at doing nothing, or instead delight in the quiet moments. Fomo for me is at its highest now, I am suddenly allowed to do things again and therefore I should and must be using all moments to ‘do’. After all if I was a worthwhile and needed human being wouldn’t that be the status of my life post covid. Full of socialising, work, creativity, connection. Not naps. There would be no time for naps.
However much I find myself thinking, I do not want to live in a world with covid. I also don’t want to live in a world without naps. Because what we find in the quiet comfort of time away from the world is more interesting ideas when we wake and more energy to make them happen.