At some point in my late teens/early twenties, I got this thing in my head that sleeping fewer hours every night gives me more waking hours to maximize my life. Or maybe this is some shit I read in a book sometime. Here is how the "logic" goes - suppose you life for a 72 years (I had to find a number wholly divisible by both 3 and 4. You will see why). If you sleep an average of 8 hrs a night, you spend a third of your life ( =24 years) in sleeping. However, if you sleep only 6 hrs a night, you only spend a quarter of your life ( =18 years) sleeping. Simple math - you have 6 extra years that you can do amazing things with. Amazing how math works!
I internalized it very early in life. In my early twenties, I worked hard and, for many years, slept 6 hrs or less every night. I am a light sleeper so it was not as much of an issue as you would think. In my thirties, that became about 6.5 hrs. Sometimes in my forties, it became about 7. Although, for some reason, I just sleep less on weekends than on weekdays. Now, going by my logic, those extra years of accumulated time should have resulted in me cracking the genetic code, or world peace, or hunger or something that monumental by now. The math is not exactly the issue here... The issue is that I am highly unimaginative. In my twenties, I spent those extra hours just partying (mostly). Ever since I got married, most of those hours have been spent reading while my better half sleeps soundly (and wakes up refreshed) by my side. I always envy people who can sleep for long. I cannot remember the last time I slept for 8hrs in a night (and wasn't too drunk or something). Talk about messing up your life based on an ill-conceived notion from your youth.
However, today, my son asked me how I know so much about everything. Is it because I read so many books? It isn't. But probably makes reading them worth it if he thinks so. Weirdly though, it reminded me of my biggest fear about dying before my kids are fully grown and what not. How will I teach them everything I know about things big or small. How will they know all the trivia in my head? I guess they won't. I just hope they won't make the same mistake that I did of never asking my dad about everything in his head. I didn't ask, he didn't tell. I just don't want my kids to learn everything on their own when I learned so much on their behalf.
Though I never pay this much heed, is it too much to hope that I will be able to impart bits of it to my grandkids.
Feeling a little sleepy now....
