Insomnia, Oprah, and Red Paint

The inspiration for my topic comes from my current state of not being able to sleep. It is approximately midnight and I’ve been in bed for about an hour and a half. I realized about three minutes ago I could use this time to be productive and the product of that thought is this blog entry.

Unfortunately, tonight’s insomnia is not a special occurrence. On average, I have insomnia about three or four nights a week, sometimes more. Even when I do sleep, I don’t sleep very well. Not to say I don’t ever sleep; there are weekends I’m in bed at nine and asleep until eleven the next morning. Not to mention, there are always naps, which happen to be my favorite form of sleep. I find them more refreshing then a night’s sleep and often nap for a couple of hours after school if I don’t have too much to do and there isn’t a can’t miss Oprah episode on.

Normally, I do not spend my extra awake hours productively. I just lie in my bed and think and stare at my wall. I am not a counting sheep kind of person. In my experience with that, the sheep quickly become angry with me and refuse to jump the fence because it takes me so long to fall asleep and they’re tired and ready for bed themselves. I am also not a sleeping pills kind of person. Therefore, I’ve come up with a more fun and creative way to pass the time.

In my mind, I imagine a room. The walls of the room are white with no windows. Inside the room is myself, multiple gallons of red paint, brushes of various sizes along with other painting materials, and a ladder. With all of this, I simply paint the room. How I paint the room usually depends on my mood. Some nights I finger paint and create designs and doodles all over the walls. There are nights I paint the walls solidly. I’ll use a tiny watercolor paintbrush if I think it’s going to be a while before I fall asleep. Other nights I just use a regular paintbrush or roller. I’ve also used a sponge and one of those spray nozzles you see on TV just to mix things up. On occasion I will lift the entire gallon of paint and splatter the wall with it, which is always a treat. Honestly, I don’t prefer a certain method over any of the others, I enjoy them all.

Ever since I started doing this I don’t know how many years ago, the paint has been red. I’m not sure why, it just is. It happens. I guess I’m going to try and actually sleep now though. I feel like I’ve exhausted my ramblings on insomnia for one night. You should try my room painting sometime though. Let me know how it goes. Goodnight. :)