Bridemares
Why is it that the times in our lives in which we most need sleep, sleep eludes us? The night before the bar exam? The whole five months before the wedding? What does a girl have to do to get some beauty sleep??? Apparently, The Sandman has an averse reaction to stress and simply departs sans baggage (he leaves it under our eyes) for more peaceful pastures.
As a bride-to-be, it is important to maintain a steady sleep schedule. This goes especially for the several days leading up to the wedding. Even if it means abandoning latenight reception decoration assembly, you must get some rest. You will be compensating for the sleep you will most likely not get the night before the wedding. Or the night of the wedding. Wink. Wink. The night before the wedding may be fraught with jitters and all kinds of obsessive thoughts about whether or not the cake baker will wear non-slip shoes when he is transporting the cake from his van to the hall, and other things over which you have zero control. The only antedote to this is to invoke sleep like a charmer to a snake. Set a bedtime, make yourself some calming tea, watch some "Nick at Nite" and drift off to dreamland.
During the months prior to the wedding, it is still important to get plenty of sleep. However, I cannot promise you a sleeplife without aggravation. In fact, you should be aware of something that afflicts slumbering brides-to-be. It is called The Bridemare. It is a grossly horrifying and wickedly tempestuous portrayal of your life as a bride, as projected onto the screen of your unconscious head. Bridemares may sometimes occur in the life of a bride-to-be once or twice a week. You will be having a perfectly wonderful dream and then suddenly, the set shifts and it is your wedding day! Only this isn't your dress! And why does your driver not understand your language and furthermore, why is he taking you, you in your white dress not of your choosing, to an ass farm where you see all of your family standing across a muddy moat, all staring at you and saying nothing, as though they are a jury of your peers? Bridemares happen and they will certainly rattle your chains a bit about your approaching day. They may even afflict the sleeplives of your MOB, fiance, and perhaps even other members of your bridal party. Chances are, you are all trying to manage too much related to the wedding. Your body is just telling you to slow down, chill out, let go. Get back to that focus and reassess those prioririties.
I value my sleeplife a great deal. I have contended with insomnia since girlhood. If I am slightly upset about something that occurred during my day, very little sleep is had. Even when I was a wee lass, I would play McDonald's Drive-thru from behind my bed until exhaustion would drive me to my pillow. So a good night's sleep for me is a precious gift. Ergo, Fiance John was forced to understand my need for sleep. Even at the heights of wedding planning, when John and I were feverishly drafting to-do lists, I would still insist on getting my usual 8 hours of sleep. This was a difficult need for my zombie fiance to understand. John liked to toil late into the night, ferretting out discount frisbees for our wedding favors (which we would eventually nix for bamboo chopstick sets due to cost effective calculations drafted up by my husband at 4am). It was helpful to learn how we could respect each other's sleeping habits/needs,and also to work around them. By accepting each other's limitations, we learned to capitalize on the ways that we could help, rather than hinder one another.
I suppose it is ironic that I was a disciplined sleeper during the pre-wedding months, since many nights were spent entertaining another unconscious Bridemare on Elm Street. Yet, as the stresses of wedding planning mounted, and all sorts of other requests and payments surfaced, I appreciated the fact that I could control my sleep. I just made myself a schedule, and, much like throwing the laundry into the dryer at the end of the wash cycle, so, too, would I throw my self into my bed at the appropriated hour.
Sleep is not the only prerequisite for being a healthful bride. Even when we do not have the incentive of looking superbulous for one long photo shoot, er, one magical day, we should practice good self-care. Obviously, a good diet, exercise, journaling, prayer/meditation, and avoiding the competitive stares of other bridezillas are all integral to a balanced bride-to-be's life. Afterall, living in harmony with others, say your husband for the rest of your life, is only possible if you learn to live in harmony with yourself.
As a bride-to-be, it is important to maintain a steady sleep schedule. This goes especially for the several days leading up to the wedding. Even if it means abandoning latenight reception decoration assembly, you must get some rest. You will be compensating for the sleep you will most likely not get the night before the wedding. Or the night of the wedding. Wink. Wink. The night before the wedding may be fraught with jitters and all kinds of obsessive thoughts about whether or not the cake baker will wear non-slip shoes when he is transporting the cake from his van to the hall, and other things over which you have zero control. The only antedote to this is to invoke sleep like a charmer to a snake. Set a bedtime, make yourself some calming tea, watch some "Nick at Nite" and drift off to dreamland.
During the months prior to the wedding, it is still important to get plenty of sleep. However, I cannot promise you a sleeplife without aggravation. In fact, you should be aware of something that afflicts slumbering brides-to-be. It is called The Bridemare. It is a grossly horrifying and wickedly tempestuous portrayal of your life as a bride, as projected onto the screen of your unconscious head. Bridemares may sometimes occur in the life of a bride-to-be once or twice a week. You will be having a perfectly wonderful dream and then suddenly, the set shifts and it is your wedding day! Only this isn't your dress! And why does your driver not understand your language and furthermore, why is he taking you, you in your white dress not of your choosing, to an ass farm where you see all of your family standing across a muddy moat, all staring at you and saying nothing, as though they are a jury of your peers? Bridemares happen and they will certainly rattle your chains a bit about your approaching day. They may even afflict the sleeplives of your MOB, fiance, and perhaps even other members of your bridal party. Chances are, you are all trying to manage too much related to the wedding. Your body is just telling you to slow down, chill out, let go. Get back to that focus and reassess those prioririties.
I value my sleeplife a great deal. I have contended with insomnia since girlhood. If I am slightly upset about something that occurred during my day, very little sleep is had. Even when I was a wee lass, I would play McDonald's Drive-thru from behind my bed until exhaustion would drive me to my pillow. So a good night's sleep for me is a precious gift. Ergo, Fiance John was forced to understand my need for sleep. Even at the heights of wedding planning, when John and I were feverishly drafting to-do lists, I would still insist on getting my usual 8 hours of sleep. This was a difficult need for my zombie fiance to understand. John liked to toil late into the night, ferretting out discount frisbees for our wedding favors (which we would eventually nix for bamboo chopstick sets due to cost effective calculations drafted up by my husband at 4am). It was helpful to learn how we could respect each other's sleeping habits/needs,and also to work around them. By accepting each other's limitations, we learned to capitalize on the ways that we could help, rather than hinder one another.
I suppose it is ironic that I was a disciplined sleeper during the pre-wedding months, since many nights were spent entertaining another unconscious Bridemare on Elm Street. Yet, as the stresses of wedding planning mounted, and all sorts of other requests and payments surfaced, I appreciated the fact that I could control my sleep. I just made myself a schedule, and, much like throwing the laundry into the dryer at the end of the wash cycle, so, too, would I throw my self into my bed at the appropriated hour.
Sleep is not the only prerequisite for being a healthful bride. Even when we do not have the incentive of looking superbulous for one long photo shoot, er, one magical day, we should practice good self-care. Obviously, a good diet, exercise, journaling, prayer/meditation, and avoiding the competitive stares of other bridezillas are all integral to a balanced bride-to-be's life. Afterall, living in harmony with others, say your husband for the rest of your life, is only possible if you learn to live in harmony with yourself.
posted by The Grammarian @ 11:38 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home