Why are naps holy?
Nap: (noun) a short sleep, especially during the day.
Holy: (adjective) morally and spiritually excellent
When you're driving home from Thanksgiving at Grandma's and you doze off in the back of the car, you wake up in a haze as your mom pulls into the driveway. You pretend to still be asleep only to get carried up the stairs and placed gently in your bed. Fast forward fifteen years, you're eighteen and home from college for the first time. You fall asleep on the couch only to wake up to your dad screaming at the TV in celebration, he apologizes but waking up was worth it to celebrate your team's victory. It's your second semester of your senior year in college and you've been in the library for over 24 hours and you wake up after using the textbook you were supposed to be studying as a pillow. It's Christmas day and your immediate family is all that's left at home. You're laying on the floor because you're the youngest and you always get the floor. Your dog is cuddling with you and snoring softly. You're a mere three feet from the fire and feeling very toasty. You sleep through all of It's a Wonderful Life and wake up to a fresh cup of cocoa from your mom. You're at a friend's and you fall asleep on the couch, you wake up to a blanket placed over you. When you stay up all night with your friends, its almost time to get up and you squeeze a quick thirty minutes of shut-eye in before accepting the fact that it's a new day. A nap in the sun, on the beach midway through a full day of playing beach volleyball. A nap in a hammock as you gently sway back and forth while the sun is setting in the background. A cat nap when you first get to your condo in Hawaii because you want to be rested after being on an airplane all day, but you also don’t want to miss your first sunset over the warm ocean.
Sometimes you use a nap as a tool, to get a bit of rest, to pass the time, or to get out of an awkward conversation. Sometimes your nap is accidental, you should be doing anything besides sleeping, but you find yourself lost in dreamland instead. But the best naps, are the ones that bring you closer to someone else. The first time you meet your newborn cousin, you both fall asleep in the corner, your dog snoring next to you on the floor, or cuddling with your boyfriend while watching another dumb movie.
Naps are holy because they are an escape from reality. They allow you to find rest in the simplest of moments and in the most random of places. Naps are great because they lack the commitment of going to bed for the night, you don't usually put on pajamas, plug your phone in to charge, wash your face or brush your teeth. You simply find a space that is comfortable, curl up and ignore the world as it whizzes around you. You found rest in the unexpected and have recharged when that wasn't your intention.
