We young adults think we can conquer the world running on four hours of sleep. Ask any college student how much sleep they’ve procured in the last week, and they will most likely laugh and ask you what this ‘sleep’ is and where they can get it.
I am a constant victim to the young invincibles mentality. I’ve always been a burning-the-candle-at-both-ends person: between classes, working at the school newspaper, taking honors courses, playing basketball, completing internships, and maintaining friendships at school as well as back home. If I wasn’t doing something, I assumed I wasn’t doing enough.
We think we are invincible until something invades us from the outside. Something that we can’t stop once it has started. Something like the common cold.
This mentality caught up with me earlier this year when I went snowboarding with some of my classmates. My throat had felt a little scratchy when I woke up that morning we were heading up the mountain, but I ignored it for the sake of having a good time. However, after breathing in frosty mountain air for eight hours, my throat had gone from harboring a slight tickle to imitating a full-blown assassin. It took more than a week to recover from a cold that had taken my body completely hostage.
I absolutely hate feeling under the weather. I have so many things to do, I can’t afford to get sick! And yet, I still think that I can do everything at 110 percent and not suffer the natural consequences. It hurts when my body has to make me slow down for a week, but it forces me to recognize that I actually can’t do everything on four hours of sleep.
When it came to setting a pattern for rest, God knew exactly what he was doing. He knew the importance of sitting back and relaxing after creating all of everything in six days; he set the example of the Sabbath for us broken humans, who somehow still think we can conquer the world in 24 hours or less.
Rest (preferably at night) is crucial to being productive during the day, and after going stir-crazy for a week while fighting this cold, I’m ready to take life at a more moderated pace. Maybe I’ll start by getting to bed before midnight.
