Now this is something that many parents will be able to relate to. We arrive at work tired from a lack of sleep, exhausted before the day has even started. Sometimes this is genuinely due to a teething baby that has been waking up every hour on the hour. But a lot of the time, especially for us creative and go getting kind of parents, it’s due to the parent sleep cycle.
The Parent Sleep Cycle
Now the parent sleep cycle is driven by a need to have some valuable ‘me’ time. This ‘me’ time could be spent catching up on the latest TV programmes (hello Power and Narcos), reading a book and chilling out or working towards your creative and business endeavours. The parent sleep cycle looks something like this:
You wake up mashed in the morning, power through the day fueled by coffee and promising to yourslef that you are going to get an early night. You get home and put your evening plan in action which mainly consists of getting the kids fed, bathed and in bed on time and then you relax. But that relaxation doesn’t last too long. Now is the time that us creative creatures get to work (again!). All of a sudden you are full of energy again and the temptation to stay up and work on your dreams is just too much to resist.
Those midnight hours are often the most productive times. The things is, when you become a mummy or daddy, the time you have to yourself becomes extremely precious. You really do wonder what you did with all your free time pre-baby. So when the children are in bed, it’s our time. It’s our time to do whatever the hell we want with no distractions (unless baby wakes up lol). And being the ambitious, creative and go getting type of people we are, we have dreams that need working on. It just so happens that they get worked on in the depths of the night, even though we need to be awake at the break of dawn.
The thing is, when you have a burning desire to work on your dreams, you sacrifice things along the way. And when you’re a parent, most of the time this sacrifice comes in the form of sleep. But is it worth it to move forward with your endeavours, maintain your sense of excitement in life and work towards and even better future for your family? Hell Yeh!
So I want all you go getting parents to know that, I feel your grind man. I’m with you all the way. In fact, as I write this, it’s close to midnight, I’m off to get some beauty sleep.
Peace
Elliott
Disclaimer – I’ve got just one piece of advice, at least try and break the cycle once a week and actually try and get that early night once in a while! Our health is important and if we burn out everything will suffer, both our children and our dreams. MFFonline is not responsible for any burnout suffered as a result of this article lol.