Conscious Thoughts On Oversleeping

I overslept this morning. 

My alarm clock, instead of dutifully sounding at 5:35 a.m., as it has every morning, wimped out at 3:55 a.m. So, instead I awoke at 6:28 (which I learned upon checking my ever-reliable cellphone for the accurate time), giving me 15 minutes to get dressed and do my hair and makeup. Thankfully, I arrived at work on time, while feeling more than a bit self-conscious about sporting bedhead in public (which I've made a consistently firm habit of not doing), though I did get a compliment from a coworker on today's "cute" (and completely necessary) updo.

Anyway, the point of this post (if it has one) is that oversleeping, much like overcoming tragedy or surviving a near-death experience (my tongue is firmly in cheek, by the way), puts you in touch with your priorities. It's easy to start your day exactly the way you want to when your alarm goes off at the right time and you get up when you're supposed to get out of bed. It's a bit more difficult to do that when you have 15 minutes (rather than 45) to get dressed and make your face and hair presentable for work. 

So, what, if anything, did I learn from today's oversleeping experience? I learned that fulfilling my responsibility of getting to work when my employer expects me to get to work is far more meaningful to me than having a made-up face and perfectly flat-ironed hair. (To say I'm lacking both this morning is a gross understatement.) Also, more important than hair and makeup is eating a hearty breakfast that will sustain me until my lunch break and enjoying the quiet time that gets my mind prepared and focused for the workday ahead of me.

And I can't ignore the thought that having my daily routine forcibly shaken up now and again probably does me, a Type-A planner and worrier, a world of long-term good. 

I also realized that I missed not writing a page in my journal, which I've done every morning since reading in Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way last summer that doing so is a great way to cure writer's block and jump start creative flow (she was correct on both counts). Although thinking and writing something halfway intelligent immediately upon waking sometimes feels like a burden, it's become an essential part of my daily routine. I've found that it's really the best way for me to start each day because it clears my mind and clarifies my thoughts.   

And once in a while, I dare say, those thoughts are surprisingly insightful and worthy of sharing, which I do, on this blog.