It's not unusual to be afraid of the dark. Things that are generally visible to our human eye become shadowed. Masked. Hidden. Being afraid of the dark is so common even Nickelodeon picked it up. This typical fear, however, is commonly identified in the young. Those who have a more vivid imagination and have not discovered the statistics of such scary events actually happening, provided the geographical location is deemed safe by societal standards of course. At 26 years old, it's pretty embarrassing sitting here at my computer at 2:27am, central time, blogging merely to avoid going to sleep. I used to be afraid of the dark when I was little, but then I grew out of it and could only sleep soundly if it was completely dark in my room. In Chicago, that's difficult to accomplish if there's a window (streetlights, neon signs, etc.). I remained unafraid for a long time after that. It's only been in the past couple years that I've been leaving my reading light on. The soft yellow glow (an actual yellow lightbulb) comforts me as I fall asleep but awakens me only a few hours later while keeping me in a light sleep until I turn it off. It may wake me a few times, but I'll only turn it off once some sunlight has crept into my room. What am I afraid of? As far as my conscious mind is aware off, I have no psychological childhood traumas of the dark. There just seems to be no logical reason for it. And yet here I am. Writing for my life...
I force myself to stay awake for as long as I can. Oddly enough I've only pulled two all-nighters in my entire life. For all this I find I never need naps during the day. In fact, I hate them and try to avoid them. I've tried napping every length of time advised to me and still I feel groggy and sluggish when I awaken. Naps are not for me. Maybe that will change as I age. The older members of my family nap often. Oh well.
So here I am writing. Writing to stay awake. Thank God for spell check. Reader, if you knew how many spelling errors were in here originally, you'd tell me to go to sleep then enroll in elementary school first thing in the morning. I could read a little I suppose. I like to read Harlequin romance novels occasionally. They're a tad boring, generally, but I depend on their predictability and sameness to lull me to sleep. If I actually read something interesting, it'll keep me up. It's a quarter to three now. I suppose I should try to sleep. I locked my door and sometimes that helps. Goodnight, reader. I hope you're sleeping now. Unless you live in another time zone or the other side of the world...ok...I'm stopping my rambling. Goodnight. Or morning. Or whatever. It's dark out.
Your authouress,
Elle
