Saving Daylight

Tonight I lose an hour of sleep thanks to Daylight Savings Time. No biggie, really. I often lose hours of sleep. Or really I just misplace them. I tend to get my sleep whenever and where ever possible.

The fact is: I require plenty of rest. I know there are people in the world who can go on very little sleep. I am not one of them. I believe in napping and our culture tends to peg that as lazy or self-indulgent. In fact, we have been conditioned to expect ourselves to function well on little sleep, high stress and lousy food -- but that is simply absurd. And in my case if I don't get enough rest, I become a bit insane. Okay, QUITE a bit insane. I get in this state where I'm cranky or weepy or spacey or some combination of all three. Trust me, it isn't pretty!

Which is why I'm so pleased to be spending the days before my departure immersed in my yoga practice. I'm flying to Kentucky on Tuesday and the list of things I have left to do before leaving makes concentrating on anything other than errands pretty much unjustifiable. Yet halfway through my weekend of downward facing dog and meditation, it's obvious to me that this is the best possible use of my time.

Instead of loading up on travel sizes at Walgreens or mentally packing the car over and over again, I'm doing something as radical as sitting on a mat and BREATHING. Pretty revolutionary considering how much "sense" it makes to get my ducks in a row before I get on that plane. This activity is going to do a lot more than any last-minute errand possibly could to support my mom and me in the move. I'm balancing myself with breath and movement, cultivating a state of relaxation and regaining a sense of perspective that I will greatly need in the days to  come.

I expect at times I will still feel frustrated, lose my patience, become overwhelmed with anxiety and experience plenty of other feelings. But I'm setting my baseline at a level of calm that can only improve my chances of making this trip with my best foot forward.

Now remember I said this when I tweet "Get out of my lane you *&#!**!!!!" from somewhere in Texas.