Then, I went to college. I got my degree in musical theatre performance. Let me tell you a little something about music degrees: our classes are generally worth about a third of the credit that other classes are. Which means that to have a full schedule of, say, 18 credit hours, my schedule would include nine classes. Others took 3 or 4 and had a "full schedule." These are the students that had time to have jobs. I did not. We even had a class (convocation...errrr) that was required for every semester: attendance at 6 faculty recitals and four student recitals. This class was obligatory and was worth..wait for it.... ZERO credit hours. But I digress.
Suffice it to say, that between my nine classes and the rehearsals for the required shows I was in, I was at school from about 7:30 am to 11:00 pm. I needed to employ naps to make it through. It was hard for me though. I didn't have a bed or a couch, just a ledge by a window on the second floor of the music building. It was better than nothing, but not ideal for someone like me, who has a hard time sleeping anyway. One particular semester, I had school from 7 to 4:30 and then I drove to Phoenix for rehearsals/performances of "Thouroughly Modern Millie" at Phoenix Theatre. I didn't get home until around 11:30. Once I got to the theatre, there was a couch in the green room. I learned to employ the "power nap." I would sleep for about 20-30 minutes, get up, eat dinner and drink an Emergen-C and do a show. It got me through.
That's when I fell in love with couch napping. Its hard for me to turn my brain off completely if I know I don't have at LEAST an hour and a half to devote entirely to sleeping AND a cusion of another 30 min in case I oversleep. Couch napping allows me to feel like I can go ahead and go to sleep, because couches are usually in a pretty public place--meaning that if something happens and I sleep too long--someone will probably get me up. In the same breath, the general noise in a more traffic heavy area (like a living room) keeps me from falling into too deep a sleep and missing something important. I still get to rest, but don't have time to go to funky dreamland--which I visit frequently. Also, if I am only sleeping for a short amount of time, I actually prefer to sleep in a sunlit room, or at least a diluted sunlit room (napping on a cloudy day is my favorite). Of course, the quality of the couch is important too. We have two couches in our home. A tan sectional and a blue Lazy Boy. I would NEVER nap on the tan couch. It's not deep enough. But the Lazy Boy....hmmmmmm. Happiness. I can't count the number of naps I have taken on that couch. I love it. Its perfect for my height, deep enough, cushy. Love. (Note: this whole paragraph could apply to a particularly comfy reclining chair I'm told...)
I know that for those of you who don't comfortably fit on a couch (ahem..my 6'4" husband), my argument of the benefits of couch napping may not apply. Even I have been known to nap in my own bed. Sunday afternoon napping (we are talking 2+ hours here), sick napping, mid-morning-because-I-had-a-late-show-and-I-am-inexplicably-exhausted-at-10:00am napping. In each of these instances, though, I WANT to sleep for a long time. I want as much darkness as possible, and I don't want to be aware of the outside world. Most of the time, though, I just need a pick-me-up and a couch will leave me well rested, but not groggy.
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| Even as a Princess, I knew the benefits of a couch. |
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