Soooo Sleepy

The other day I got to work groggy and bleary-eyed and by accident turned off my computer instead of turning it on. As I sat down in my vinyl office chair, these words popped up on my screen:
Monitor Going to Sleep
I’ve never been more jealous of my monitor.

There’s a nasty side effect from the fun and festivities of New York City, a little something called sleep depravation.
I’m a sleeper. In Seattle, I regularly got 9-10 hours of sleep a night and that was with a 6:00 AM aerobics class. I often went to bed when it was still light outside, not unlike a toddler. I always felt refreshed, replenished, and downright bushy-tailed.
In New York, I struggle to fall asleep in the “PM” and I still wake up at 5. I did some rough calculations and figured I got about 40 hours of sleep last week. 40 hours. Over 7 nights. That’s just not enough. I’m not only of these people like Albert Einstein or Bill Clinton who both claimed they only needed 90 minutes – 3 hours of sleep a night. I happen to enjoy…and need…a good night sleep.
I’m not sure what the solution is at this point. Every night it seems I’m staying out until 9 or 10 or 11, and when I get home, the energy of the evening stays with me and I can’t even think of sleep. So I end up texting friends (many of whom conveniently reside in a time zone three hours earlier) or writing (like…right now) or reading or staring at the ceiling of my tiny apartment or planning my outfit for the next day or painting my toenails or surfing the web for more fun things to do in New York or well, or just about anything other than sleep. Eventually my energy starts to mellow a bit an my eyes start to feel heavier and around midnight or one I finally brush and floss, take the dog for one more walk around the block, and pull out my bed. I’m out seconds after my lights, and the alarm comes like a cruel joke moments later.
The pulse and drive and stimulation of New York allow me to keep up this pace. In the midst and mist of Seattle with its low grey cloud and easy-going disposition, I would be napping under my desk at work by noon. Remarkably, I generally make it through the day fairly well. My serious caffeine addiction helps me along, but really I just wake up excited to be in New York, even when it seems like the night has passed in a blink. That excitement carries me through to the next day…and the next. I don’t think I’m the only one who lives on this general lack of sleep, either. Whenever I reach out to friend at 11, 12, 1 in the morning, they almost always hit me back. In the office, I notice frequent yawns and droopy eyes. When I was talking to a New Yorker the other day about this, he confirmed my suspicions. “I don’t feel like I’ve slept more than give hours a night since I moved here,” I told him. “Yeah,” he replied. “And you won’t. There’s just too much to do to spend time sleeping.”
The most extreme example of this presented itself on a recent Saturday night. A friend invited me to visit an upper eastside bar since he was going to be bartending. I’d been having a pretty full day with a concert at the MET and a lovely meal complete with corn bread and green beans* in Harlem, and a little frat-esque party in the east village, so I was thinking I would only be at this bar an hour or so before heading home and calling it another successful day in NYC.
I ended up closing the bar down.
In Seattle, this would mean 2:00 AM, which is still late, but in New York closing the bar down means 4:00 AM. And if you’re closing the bar, you’re going to need to get waffles after you leave, especially if you’re name is Erin Gilbert. So, this meant I climbed into bed just before 5:00 in the morning, and actually was starting to fall asleep when my alarm went off. Some people may see this as a sign. A sign that perhaps this late night / early morning living is getting a little out of control and perhaps yours truly should think about putting more value on hitting the hay. Perhaps.
I still believe that if you truly want to experience all New York has to offer and keep your day job, there’s simply very little time for sleep. The old expression appears to be true. New York is truly the city that never….zzzzzzzz…..

**I'm not a huge fan of soul food, but the green beans are out of this world. I think they're about 2/3rds butter and 1/3rd green bean. Outstanding.