Why a pillow?


I do so many things without thinking about it. Then I get ready for bed one night and I think about pillows. I don't know a single soul who sleeps without one. Snorenation.com has an article about how some people don't use one, and some people swear they need three in order to sleep well.
Every house and hotel I've ever been in has pillows on the bed.
I am free to question everything now, right down to my pillow and right up the heavens above. With my altered way of thinking sideways I started with the God/Universe questions and ended with the pillow questions.
I have never known life without a pillow. Except a few times camping, I suppose. A few crashes on a couch, maybe. I decided to try sleeping without a pillow last night. What if it really did help my spine to align if I slept without one? I know that if I have the wrong kind of pillow it will bug me all night long.
I was too busy sleeping to really notice much, but I remember a few things. It seemed to work at first. I woke up at least three times. The first two times I was happy with the experiment. The last time I grabbed a pillow because my arm was a wee bit sore from using it as a pillow. Then I woke up a fourth time because my arm was asleep. One day I want to do a video of how I sleep at night. I think I could learn a lot. I know I'm always twisting and turning, that's for sure.
I woke up feeling like I was not at all ready for the morning. I think my husband asked me a few times to get up. My body and brain were not prepared the day to start. Ron knew what might work. He made my favorite breakfast drink and told me it was waiting outside on the back table. He knows I like it hot, and said: your chamba is on the table, don't let it get cold.
Why are mornings so hard? For today I don't blame the lack of a head cushion. I blame riding my bike for the first time in five months, and doing new thigh stretches. On top of the constant struggle to stay hydrated while I'm sleeping here in the tropics.
The only thing worse than not being Morning Person is living with two people who are! My Mom: "Good morning Suzette, how are you?" Me: "Ughnnnnnnn...." Ron: "Want to go for a walk on the beach to watch the sun rise?". Me: "Grunt". Probably a total pig snort, truth be told. As I physically react with a loud harsh sound that escapes at how ridiculous that sounds. Me, functional? It's all I can do to not tell what I'm really thinking. Silence is golden.
Bless you morning people. I admire you, I do. I let you be you. Just let me be me. That's all I ask in life anymore. I don't know why mornings are so rough. I've tried everything. I'm just blessed with no more jobs that start at 6am. Even 8am jobs were no fun for me. Even the college job where at 8am all I had to do was open up the classroom and office and not even teach until 9am. Just sit at my desk and find the easiest things on my To Do list.
I think I could write a short story about what I now call The Pillow Factor. It's just one of the many things we take for granted. The internet told me that experts say that you should change your pillow every three months. That's what I read years ago. Now I found this:

“If you have a plain-old, inexpensive polyester pillow, you should be replacing it every six months,” says Michael Breus, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and author of the book Good Night. “But if you have a memory foam pillow or any one with structural integrity, it'll last you anywhere from 18 to 36 months.”Feb 16, 2015

This Is How Often You Should Replace Your Pillow | Greatist

https://greatist.com/grow/when-buy-new-pillow

I told my Mom about the whole sleeping without a pillow and she is the rational person who asked: Why would you want to do that? Which just made me laugh. Because I want to do everything my own way. Not because I always have. I want to try new things. I want to be more natural in everything I do. I took the pillows off my bed and it looked so strange. I tried to find a picture on the internet of a bed without a pillow. Maybe I need to describe it differently, but I was only given a handful of options like the one below.
I think I will try it again without a pillow tonight. Have you ever looked at the pillow you use every night? I remember doing this once and it looked all stained like it was a bandage for a large wound. So gross. I think it was a pillow for one of my kids. I just wasn't paying attention, it was definitely time to get new pillows! Sleep.org says: Night after night of sleeping on a pillow causes it to absorb body oil, dead skin cells, and hair. ... To help prolong your pillow’s lifespan, wash it every six months and add a protectant case in between the pillow and pillowcase. This does not even address the element of drool. The internet (otherwise known as My One Hundred Grandparents Giving Advice) says that if you sleep on your side like me then drool can happen. Drool happens. What a weird word. 
I have to get on with my day, don't get me started on drool and salivary glands and all of that. I'm finally feeling ready for the day. So what if it's after 10am. I'm learning to accept me and love me just the way I am. 

 Pura vida, Suzette

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