To Sleep, Perchance to Dream (Mary Strand)

This month at YA Outside the Lines, we’re supposed to talk about decisions.

What decisions? I have no idea. And because of the (obviously insane) decision I've made in the past to say yes to practically anything and everything, I'm overwhelmed 24/7 with work, missing most of the glory that is a Minnesota summer, and writing this blog at 5:30am on a Saturday, on the day it's due, rather than on a relatively leisurely afternoon approximiately a week early, which is what I almost always do.

This, after staying up ridiculously late last night and therefore getting about three hours of sleep, and I play a two-hour gig this morning. After I finish this blog post.

Decisions.

They're not all good ones.

But I wrote a blog post a few months ago about how I was wasting my time in the mornings, not getting out of bed, and I vowed to change that. And ... I did. I just haven't changed the part about going to bed late, so now I'm up early AND up late, and sleep isn't happening, and God help my voice this morning when I try to sing for two hours.

But that's a problem for three hours from now.

So today's vow (or decision) is to get my act together and get some sleep.

I know, I know: sleep doesn't seem like a particularly active goal, right? But when it comes right down to it, basics like sleep, drinking enough water, eating right, exercising, and (in my case) playing guitar AND WRITING regularly are everything.

Instead, I'm crazy busy chasing deadlines and am in a constant mad rush, and good habits have become something I'll start doing again tomorrow. As in, every day I say "tomorrow."

So today - after I finish writing and posting this blog, and playing my gig immediately after that, and working out with my trainer immediately after THAT (good grief; another bad decision!) - I will take a long nap. And hopefully I'll sleep, and perchance dream, of deciding to form new habits that give me the life I want starting right now ... and not tomorrow.

No time like the present. And wish me luck today!

Mary Strand is the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Push-Up Bras and three other novels in the Bennet Sisters YA series. You can find out more about her books and music at marystrand.com.