I was today years old when I was told that I am not coming from a “sleep -supporting family.” As Dana Joy Seigelstein describes it in her now Viral Tiktok VideoA sleep -supporting family is when the loved ones in your life encourage sleep. They don’t care if you take naps all day, and they suggest you go to bed early or sleep in the weekend if you are not feeling well.
Even though I come from a very loving ”Living room family“It supported me through school, sport and my expensive limited for phase, let’s just say that my parents and siblings were not the most sleep supporting. What do I mean by that? No naps allowed. Ever. This was not a rule that ever said high, per say, but it was definitely implicit, especially on weekends.
If I so much closed my eyes on the sofa or spent a few extra minutes in my bedroom, I would have to endure passive-aggressive comments from my sisters for the rest of the day as “Good morning, princess” or “Oh, are you ready to be lazy?” My parents would also decide that if I had enough time of day to take a nap, I would have enough time to complete a new job when I woke up. So fun!
As a result, I was basically trained by nap completely. And to this day, I can not physically fall asleep in the middle of the day no matter how exhausted I am. At the same time, my boyfriend Snooze can anywhere, anywhere – a result that I imagine comes from being raised in a sleep -supporting family.
However, Naps was not the only question in my household, but sleeping in was not recommended either. (Again, never a rule said loudly, but always implied. I feel a theme here.) If I slept too late, I would wake up to different people turning to point to my head in my room to see what I did – not in a loving, “Hello, I check in on you” but in one “Why do you still sleep?” way.
No one in my family has ever received crazy Necessarily, but I definitely always had a bigger list of things to do when I slept a little later than usual. So what did I do? I stopped sleeping completely and became a morning person. Although I love being a morning person now in adulthood, it is definitely through trauma and not because I learned to love to be a morning person on my own.
That said, my family has never been completely non-sleep support. They did not carry out a strict bedtime, and if I am not feeling well they would let me stay home from school without any questions. In one’s own way, that Where They are sleep support, which I appreciate.
But now that I’m an adult, I’ve started updating how you sleep in looking for me. And although I can’t sleep in as late as I want (largely thanks to a dog that requires to be released every morning at 7:30), I still go back to bed and close my eyes afterwards. Can I fall asleep back? No. But I can silence my mind to know that I give myself permission to lie in bed as long as I want without extra chores to wake up.
And when it’s time for the future to have children and be a mother, I plan to break the bike. My children will feel the joy of sleeping on Saturdays without waking up to mow the lawn or making the dishes. Most importantly, every nap will be celebrated.
Taylor Andrews Is Senior Balance Editor on Popsugar, specializing in topics related to sex, relationships, dating, sexual health, mental health, travel and more. With eight years of editorial experience, Taylor has a strong background in content creation and story. Before she came to PS 2021, she worked at Cosmopolitan.
