For as long as I remember, I have been suffering from insomnia since the final three months of senior high school. I recall going to bed with a small AM/FM radio beside my pillow hoping that music will put me to sleep, but to no avail. Most of the times I would stay awake browsing through different frequencies as the radio programs goes-off the air one by one. The time I hear the Philippine National Anthem played by the early morning radio programs, is the time I start to drowse and eventually fall asleep.
The incident that I didn’t sleep for two consecutive nights prompted my grandmother to bring me to the family doctor. I was prescribed a non-habit forming sleeping pill that I would take only whenever I am finding it hard to find that precious sleep (evidently every night, during that time). Because of fear of not waking up, or sleeping directly to eternal rest, the pills ended up expiring in the cabinet while I struggled to live with the discomfort.
Insomnia to me is a disaster and a semi-serious disorder although most would claim; it is not a disorder in its own right. So, for years, I remained awake up to wee hours in the morning and would force myself to sleep when I hear the neighbor’s rooster crow. It’s like I descended from Dracula’s line that I am so terrified of sunlight making sure I’m asleep before the sun peeps out the sky. Fortunately, there were afternoon sessions in my college, I was able to carry-on with my studies without much hardships. I start at 2:30 and finish at 8:30 pm everyday. I wake up at 10:00 everyday, except for Sundays when we go to church, my aunt would literally pull me out of bed at 6:30 am to be able to attend the 8:30 mass.
I managed to move on with this sleeping habit for years, not having to feel the side effect until I worked with HEPC, a Japanese manufacturing company at the Cavite Export Processing Zone. Japanese people are so disciplined you can expect them to be at work early all the time despite a long goodtime the night before, or lack of sleep for that matter. My good friend Debbie (well she is not yet a good friend that time, LOL, I love you Debbie! Miss you too!), then our HR manager, put me on a one-week suspension without pay because of habitual tardiness. This was after serving me with two written warnings, and who knows how many, verbal warnings. After this budget-wrecking punishment, I tried my very best to get up and swipe my badge at 8 am despite the lack of sleep.
Not only did I suffer from insomnia, I also have an unpleasant habit of sleeping with my eyes only half-closed. My mother and Brack observed. Gross or scary? It’s like you would want to put two big coins on my eyes in an effort to shut them. Sounds familiar? It’s what they do to people who died with their eyes open, hahahaha!!! But time passes; people change intrinsically and react environmentally. While I still at times have problem remaining asleep for the duration of the night, I think insomnia (after living within for two decades) finally said goodbye to me for the last ten years at least, thanks to child rearing, I guess.
Now, I can make sleep without extra effort, my eyes shut and my mind drifts to quietness as soon as my back touches the bed. Thus this morning’s conversation:
Husband: You were sleeping soundly last night.
Wife: Am I really? How did you know?
Husband: I watched you sleep.
Wife: Aren’t you scared?
Husband: Why should I?
Wife: To see me sleeping with my eyes only half-closed.
Husband: Oh no. I haven’t seen that happen to you anymore. Your eyes were totally shut-off. Like the other night I woke up at dawn and watched you sleep, I just forgot to mention that yesterday morning. You looked so beautiful in your sleep, just like sleeping beauty.
Wife: Smiled at husband :-) (awww! It must be love)
The incident that I didn’t sleep for two consecutive nights prompted my grandmother to bring me to the family doctor. I was prescribed a non-habit forming sleeping pill that I would take only whenever I am finding it hard to find that precious sleep (evidently every night, during that time). Because of fear of not waking up, or sleeping directly to eternal rest, the pills ended up expiring in the cabinet while I struggled to live with the discomfort.
Insomnia to me is a disaster and a semi-serious disorder although most would claim; it is not a disorder in its own right. So, for years, I remained awake up to wee hours in the morning and would force myself to sleep when I hear the neighbor’s rooster crow. It’s like I descended from Dracula’s line that I am so terrified of sunlight making sure I’m asleep before the sun peeps out the sky. Fortunately, there were afternoon sessions in my college, I was able to carry-on with my studies without much hardships. I start at 2:30 and finish at 8:30 pm everyday. I wake up at 10:00 everyday, except for Sundays when we go to church, my aunt would literally pull me out of bed at 6:30 am to be able to attend the 8:30 mass.
I managed to move on with this sleeping habit for years, not having to feel the side effect until I worked with HEPC, a Japanese manufacturing company at the Cavite Export Processing Zone. Japanese people are so disciplined you can expect them to be at work early all the time despite a long goodtime the night before, or lack of sleep for that matter. My good friend Debbie (well she is not yet a good friend that time, LOL, I love you Debbie! Miss you too!), then our HR manager, put me on a one-week suspension without pay because of habitual tardiness. This was after serving me with two written warnings, and who knows how many, verbal warnings. After this budget-wrecking punishment, I tried my very best to get up and swipe my badge at 8 am despite the lack of sleep.
Not only did I suffer from insomnia, I also have an unpleasant habit of sleeping with my eyes only half-closed. My mother and Brack observed. Gross or scary? It’s like you would want to put two big coins on my eyes in an effort to shut them. Sounds familiar? It’s what they do to people who died with their eyes open, hahahaha!!! But time passes; people change intrinsically and react environmentally. While I still at times have problem remaining asleep for the duration of the night, I think insomnia (after living within for two decades) finally said goodbye to me for the last ten years at least, thanks to child rearing, I guess.
Now, I can make sleep without extra effort, my eyes shut and my mind drifts to quietness as soon as my back touches the bed. Thus this morning’s conversation:
Husband: You were sleeping soundly last night.
Wife: Am I really? How did you know?
Husband: I watched you sleep.
Wife: Aren’t you scared?
Husband: Why should I?
Wife: To see me sleeping with my eyes only half-closed.
Husband: Oh no. I haven’t seen that happen to you anymore. Your eyes were totally shut-off. Like the other night I woke up at dawn and watched you sleep, I just forgot to mention that yesterday morning. You looked so beautiful in your sleep, just like sleeping beauty.
Wife: Smiled at husband :-) (awww! It must be love)
2 comments:
I suspended you for a week, really? I don't remember that at all!!! And I was not HR manager then, it must have been Mamu!!! Tagg-sulat lang ako ng mga memo niya, kasy siguro you though ako nag suspend sayo, hehehe. We had this "good cop-bad cop game" going between us, and guess who had to be "bad cop", kungdi ako!!! Isa pa, sabi niya kasi pag magkasama kami, she looked thin daw!!! Tama ba yun??? Miss you, my friend....
Oh, okay si Mamu pala ng culprit! Pano GMI ang initials na nasa paper e...hmmm...now I remember that HEPC Cop days. But it's alright that incident straightened me somehow, and after that we became closer right :-) that's the most important thing.
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