Do you ever take naps? Sometimes in the afternoons after a full morning of writing, creative exhaustion sets in. If I don’t have anything else going on, I will lay on my bed for a quick snooze. This feels like such a luxury.
As a girl growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee in the 60s, I would sometimes take naps in the summertime. My parents had an oscillating fan sitting on their bedroom dresser, that would keep me cool as I napped on their bed.
Something about the sound of that fan droning on as it swiveled and tossed the cool, warm air in my direction (we didn’t have air conditioning in those days) was the perfect recipe for an afternoon nap. Even now, I will turn on the overhead fan in my bedroom to try to recreate the effect.
In my novel Trueluck Summer, set in Charleston in 1964, I put an oscillating fan in the Trueluck kitchen. Though my novels aren’t my personal story (that would be way too boring!), they are full of little memories like oscillating fans moving the air around in the summer South.
With the pandemic still a constant concern, now seems a perfect time to allow ourselves a cat-nap every now and again. Our pets are great at demonstrating how to relax. Study their ease, and then maybe this weekend practice imitating them. Take a quick, stress-reducing nap and let me know how it goes.
In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts on naps.
With love and zzz’s,
Susan
No one ever wants me to nap because when I get up I am so grouchy LOL. If I nap during the day, I have trouble getting to sleep at night, so I prefer to not nap. Right now I am trying to catch up on all the weeding so I don’t have time to nap.
I hear you, Wanda. If I take a nap that is too long, I get grouchy, too, and I have trouble getting to sleep. Weeding works, too. It can be very meditative. Take care. 🙂