The "All Nighter"

Have you ever done an "all nighter" before? An all-nighter is when for some reason you stay up all night. Last night I did this, I literally got zero hours of sleep. I was working on a project for my group therapy class which was due the next day. I probably could have had it done by 3pm or so but I was enjoying the experience and thought "what the heck?" and shortly after I was eating breakfast.

I had no idea what all nighter was until I went to Briercrest. My dorm, Lewis Apartments (LA for short), had its own culture and part of the culture was that you did all of your work the night before it was due, staying up as late as you could to get it done. Sadly, I have never recovered from learning this bad habit! It was at Briercrest that I saw people trying to "cheat" on their all nighters by drinking coffee, popping caffeine pills, playing music loudly, etc. The only thing I found that helped me make it through the 4-7 "death zone" was drinking juices. Unlike coffee or sugary drinks, there is no "down" afterwards from juice. There, I've shared my secret with the world, use it wisely.

Anyway, last night I found it was my easiest ever all nighter, so I suppose I've discovered a new secret to them (or perhaps the secret). You see I was writing up a proposal for a canoe trip based psycho-educational couples communication group experience. Sounds fun, eh? Well, it is for me! This week long canoe trip/group experience is one of my dreams and I found that because I was so excited about it, I didn't get tired. So that's my new secret; working on your dreams will give you strength, endurance, and creativity like you never had.

I know that we can't always be working on our dreams (after all, we have some life stuff that occasionally needs to be done as well). But if you are never working on dream stuff (or things that you really enjoy doing), life seems to lose something. My challenge is to think about something you dream of doing/experiencing/learning/reading/listening to/seeing/etc., and plan a time to "work" on it this week. You'll thank yourself later! Now if you'll excuse me, I really need to get some sleep. . .

May Light increase!