News flash: 365 hours of sleep > $60,000
I added a Google newsreel to the blog (right-hand side, below everything else). If you click on a word, it gives you news about that word. Here's one I think is timely, for me and for a few of the lovely women in my life:
"The University of Michigan recently conducted a study that looked at 900 women.... Psychologists in that report say once you stop expecting motherhood to feel warm and fuzzy all the time, life as a mother gets easier. They also found that getting one extra hour of sleep each night had a bigger effect on happiness than earning an additional $60,000 in annual income."
And there it is. If you've never had serious long-term sleep deprivation, this news may come as a surprise. That's OK, you can mull it over while the rest of us have a little nap.
Now, the part about it getting easier when you stop expecting warm-fuzzies? That's a complete load of c**p. It gets easier when the baby sleeps at night, laughs at your jokes, and can play by herself for a few minutes at a time. Which, I suppose, coincides with the time that you "stop expecting motherhood to feel warm and fuzzy all the time."
And THERE it is.
Full story here.
8 comments:
There was another article in Scientific American recently about how happiness is mostly genetic - people have a "happiness and fulfillment level" that they always return to. Things like special occasions, loss, or winning the lottery temporarily change one's happiness level, but we always return to our baseline.
So you could have triplets and be among the happiest people I know. :-)
Oh, and I'm going to post on the Blog of Fun. Soon. I promise.
Hmm, sounds like something I can adjust to in time. I haven't slept well in months and little C-baby isn't even born yet! I can see where sleep is important. Compared to deployment, I sleep tons here. Maybe that's what motherhood will be like for me, a long deployment that DH gets to come along on! ;-)
Jim, that's probably right. After the shock, and after-shock, and after-after-shock of having triplets, eventually I'd be back to saying that life turned out exactly the way I had planned all along. I bet Katrin would be the same way-- she has a very happy baseline.
Lizard, I thought of you when I read this, and how you slept, like, 26 hours TOTAL our senior year, and even less in college. You're much better equipped for the sleepless baby nights than most people.
Funny. You're probably right. I think we both managed to do quite a lot on very little sleep. I think that c-baby will be just too cool for me to freak about the sleepless nights. DH is great for helping too although, if our plan works out, he won't exactly be able to feed her for a month or so! Happiness is a state of mind but good chocolate and the occasional foot rub helps! ;-)
As far as I know, you and Lizard breath spent every night, all night at the Kettle or at the Downtown Grounds your Jr and Sr years in high school!
Your happiness level is helped by a life philosophy of knowing that you don't expect life to be a rose garden, so you can take the bad things in stride, and you don't take the good things for granted. It also helps that you married your ideal partner. That'll get you through LOTS!
L, Mom
Gosh, Mom, you sound like you were worried back then! I think we both turned out pretty well adjusted. It might have even helped us prepare for our current lives! ;-)
Actually, I was only worried when I would call in the middle of the night and you guys WEREN'T there, but I really did have faith in both of your native intelligence and didn't miss too much sleep!
You both turned out great and you both married really terrific guys!
L, M
Post a Comment