When It's The Middle Of The Night...And Your Clock Is Telling You To Lie

Sometimes, getting a good night's sleep isn't a given. It's actually never a given, considering all the things that can happen to a person, but in our modern society, we usually get a good night's sleep (unless, of course, you have a newborn in the house...).

We do not have a newborn or multiple newborns in the house, so that excuse for finding myself awake in the middle of the night isn't valid. We do have a cat that likes to go in and out at various times--and we don't have a cat door. 

So, last night was a tough one for me. And I blame my inability to sleep partially on a writing deadline that arrives tomorrow night. Each time I woke up, thoughts about the assignment went though my head again and again. 

Makes sleeping tough.

On those occasions when I can't sleep I actually don't want to look over at my illuminated alarm clock. Thankfully, I did not have work this morning--that's the worst, knowing exactly how much time you don't have until you need to leave the bed and go to work. No, I try and avoid knowing how much sleep I'm missing. But this morning, I did glance over and I saw it was exactly 3:17am.

Interesting thing about that, because rarely am I looking directly at clock the proper angle while I'm lying down. My head is sideways on the pillow and so I see the numbers more vertical than horizontal. I could not, however, prevent my mind from seeing the numbers upside-down and so my alarm clock was telling me to lie.

I can take this a couple of ways. It can be reminding me to lie down, and stay that way. After all, it's more difficult to fall asleep if I'm not lying down.

Then, the alarm clock may be telling me to be untruthful. That's an interesting thought. Exactly who am I supposed to lie to? My wife who's asleep next to me? The dog that's snoring on a pillow at the foot of our bed? Myself? Sorry, alarm clock. I don't think I can carry that one out.

Yes, there's other words upside-down numbers make on my alarm clock. Perhaps if I wake up at those times, my mind will give me a more practical command. We'll see.