Just When You Think You've Seen It All

Ahem. It is now a thing to pay for a daytime nap. £18 for an hour, to be precise.

In a way, I understand completely why this is a thing. Not so long ago, it was normal for people to verbally compete with each other on who's more tired. Because being tired, you see, is a measure of how busy you are (which implicitly makes you a hard worker, a driven, dedicated, ambitious person we should all admire).

But most of me automatically rejects the idea of buying a nap. Pay for sleep? What? Who are the people who can afford this? And how dreadful is their money management when £18 seems worthwhile for a bed for an hour, and how dreadful is their time management that they have to snatch this nap while not at home? (Despite my previous week of sleep deprivation... I baulk at the very idea.)

Then there's a small part of me thinking: Dang, why didn't I think of charging people for naps...

But where was I? Oh yes. The competition for being more busy than everyone else. If you listen to the people around you, you'll hear it in general conversation. Sometimes people bring it up spontaneously. I've seen people stuck in a busy-loop (and I must admit I've occasionally been stuck in one myself). That point where you are merely existing, you check your calendar constantly to see where you need to be next, where appointments creep up on you (dang, I haven't had time to get ready for this one and it's here already!) and you know that your life is just too busy. But paradoxically, you're too busy to try to get yourself out of the loop.

Are we choosing this? Plenty of people will say they're not. That this is just a necessary evil. That their obligations to the people in their lives drive half of it (ballet class, cub scouts, swimming lessons, piano tuition, Pilates, book club, etc etc etc) or even the simple workaholic mindset. But what if we choose to remember that our entire lives are driven by small choices made one by one?

I have real empathy for the ones whose calendars are full just by working. I've been there. But I also recognised it was unhealthy, and I dedicated time to actually evaluate overworking as a choice. So many choices are made while thinking we don't have a choice. But we often just forget to factor certain things in. Feeling like we have no choice working long hours, for example, sometimes omits to consider our spending habits and the possible sacrifices we could make instead.

I choose not to live in a palace. I'm not even in the smallest place I could be living - and I think next time I move, I'm going to opt smaller, because it will allow me to kill more debt. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I still find it fascinating that so many people don't even consider these things. Maybe if some people paid for slightly fewer "activities" for their kids, they could spend a couple of hours with their kids and even squeeze in a nap... for free?