I take maybe one or two naps a week. On Sunday afternoons, I tend to doze off on the couch during the football game, around 2:30 or 3:00 or so. It may only be for fifteen minutes, but oh, the comfort of letting my eyelids get heavy and just “resting my eyes” while still conscious of the play-by-play, and even forcing my eyes open to watch a replay that sounded good, but then succumbing to the drowse and drifting away.
Other times I’ll come home a little early from work, and before dinner, I’ll take a break and lie on the bed to read a little. And again, my eyelids grow heavy, and I lie with eyes closed and book clasped upright on my chest, only to feel it eventually flop over, losing my place. But I don’t care. I’m napping. Twenty minutes, forty minutes, never longer than that.
Naps are nice. Refreshing. Civilized. Revitalizing.
I don’t know who originally said it (wasn’t me though):
That sums it up for me. I love a nap on a rainy weekend, listening to the rain as I drift off & knowing that I don’t have to be up at any specific time - bliss.
At my house, the euphemism is “watching golf”, as it tends to happen on Saturday afternoons while, conveniently, there is some random golf match on in the background.
Even better is the Weather Channel. The volume just low enought that the music is soothing but the commercials aren’t too loud…
Back when I was working, I scheduled my Saturdays around a planned nap. Now that I’m not working, I could nap everyday, but they’ve lost a bit of their joy most days. Someday they’ll be joyful again, though.
Highschooler checking in: I want nap time back, damnit!
During 6th or something just have everyone lie down on the floor in this big pile and drift off to sleep listening to Enya or something. Mmmmm. Wonderful.
And bring me some aminal kwakkers and a joos bocks too.
I used to work in the editorial department of a children’s book publisher. I and one of the art directors from another imprint were in complete agreement. Right after lunch, around 1:00 or so, should have been nap time.
Not that I don’t want to, mind you. I’d love to. But I’ve got these rowdy kids. And a husband that always manages to fall asleep before me.
I’ll tell you what, though. On the rare occasions I do manage to get a nap in, my husband and kids do NOT wake me. It’s so rare for me to nap, that when I do, it’s usually because I’m sick. So when Mom naps, they all leave me right the heck alone. They even turn the TV down.
A topic near and dear to my heart. I come from a long line of nappers - my parents are good at it, and you could set your watch by my brother’s naps (every afternoon from 2 - 2:30) - and I’m carrying on the tradition.
The Saturday afternoon line-up on the local PBS channel seques from cooking shows to “New Yankee Workshop”/“This Old House.” I love drifting off to someone making ossobuco and waking up to Norm Abrams talking about being ready for assembully.
I’m a huge fan of naps. When I worked from home I would work until about 2:00 in the morning. Sleep until about 10:00. Work a few hours, eat (usually out, with people) work a few more hours. Nap. Work an hour or two. Socialize in the evening and then work from 10:00 'til two. I loved that schedule and the nap in the afternoon was part of it. I wish I could nap in the afternoon now and then stay later.
Big napping fan checking in. A couple of times a week, after I put my toddler down for her nap, I’ll tell my older two kids “Mom’s gonna go nap now”, and off I go. Love my naps!! Hubby says “how can you enjoy doing something that you don’t know you’re doing while you’re doing it?” He’s missing the entire point, dammit!! The whole act of snuggling down in bed, and drifting off. . .bliss!!
This is a terrible, no good, very bad thread to read at work!! There are so many various forms of napping that I’m all but undone over it- The well deserved nap- A nap after a long hike or swim, you were so up a minute ago, which makes it even more pleasurable to go dow…ww…n.nn…
or The hangover nap- A nap because you woke early in the day, swore off alcohol forever, could barely stomach a plain bagel and have been contemplating different methods of doing yourself in. Then magically you nap, and your head quits pounding and and nausea turns to hunger, and POW, you’re back!
or The rainy day nap- A nap that has been discussed before, but because it’s Sunday, and it’s drizzly and you’ve already had some soup and read a novel, you nap, aaaahhhh…
Okay, this is almost too much for me, I think I need to go find the coffee thread…
I have only recently learned how to take naps but I believe I am becoming quite good at it. I think as a culture we have somewhat lost the ability to rest, to be very still and very quiet and to do nothing for a while.
I think Mr Curly said it best in his letter to Vasco Pyjama.
“Dear Vasco,
In response to your question “what is worth doing and what is worth having?” I would like to say simply this. It is worth doing nothing and having a rest; in spite of all the difficulty it may cause, you must rest Vasco! - Otherwise you will become RESTLESS!
I believe the world is sick with exhaustion and dying of restlessness. while it is true that periods of weariness help the spirit grow, the prolonged, ongoing state of fatigue to which our world seems to be rapidly adapting is ultimately soul destroying as well as as earth destroying. the ecology of evil flourishes and love cannot take root in this sad situation. tiredness is one of our strongest, most noble and instructive feelings. it is an important aspect of our conscience and must be heeded or else we will not survive. when you are tired you must HAVE that feeling and you must act upon it sensibly - you MUST rest like the trees and animals do.
yet tiredness has become a matter of shame! this is a dangerous development! Tiredness has become the most suppressed feeling in the world. Everywhere we see people overcoming their exhaustion and pushing on with intensity - cultivating the great mass mania which all around is making life so hard and ugly - so cruel and meaningless - so utterly graceless - and being congratulated for overcoming it and pushing it deep down inside themselves as if it were a virtue to do this. And of course Vasco, you know what happens when such feelings are denied - they turn into the most powerful and bitter poisons with dreadful consequences. We live in a world of these consequences and then wonder why we are so unhappy.
So I gently urge you Vasco, do as we do in Curly Flat - learn to curl up and rest - feel your noble tiredness - learn about it and make a generous place for it in your life and enjoyment will surely follow. I repeat: it’s worth doing nothing and having a rest.
The late morning nap. I get up around 6:00 on the weekend. I do chores, cut the grass, fold laundry, blah, blah, blah, and then I put on a decorating show and snooze out on the couch. These naps last at least an hour and I love them.
The mid-afternoon nap. I like to do this one after I’ve put dinner in the oven. By the time that buzzer goes off, I’m all ready to chow down.
The warm, soft, kitty pile-up nap. When the little softies curl up with mommy and we all purr and blink until we fall asleep. Mmmmmmm.
That sums it up for me. I love a nap on a rainy weekend, listening to the rain as I drift off & knowing that I don’t have to be up at any specific time - bliss.
Whenever I chance to fall asleep during the daytime, I wake up dizzy and nauseated. How I envy you all.