Don't Sleep Crooked!

I’ve done a lot of things wrong in my life and many of them are just because I didn’t know better. But it's humbling to know that on a few occasions I didn’t know how to sleep. The thing about not knowing how to sleep is we don’t realize it until we wake up. Have you ever woken up to a crick in your neck that makes turning your head almost impossible? You look in the mirror and notice your head is not straight. Those are some rough mornings. The funny thing is others notice it immediately. You can tell by the way they look at you. Isn’t it amazing how a crick in your neck can affect how you walk? It messes up everything. How does it happen? It’s caused by poor posture while sleeping. It’s when we sleep in the wrong position and the muscles in the neck tighten. Isn’t it interesting how all this tightening can happen, and it not interrupt our sleep? It’s amazing how this condition can be caused by being in an uncomfortable position and it not be so uncomfortable that it causes us to wake up.

This is what happens to us. We find ourselves in positions and conditions that cause tightness and constriction. Like sleeping, though, it is not noticeable enough to interrupt the way we live. It’s called comfortable living. The problem is that when we finally awake from it, we have a hard time moving. Comfortable living is when we are not challenged and when we are not stretched. It’s a life characterized by simply going through the motions. It’s a life filled with low expectation and low output. When something happens to finally awaken us from this state, we find we can’t move. I call it a life crick! Those who see us after this notice there is something wrong. We don’t look right. This state is manageable as long as we don’t try to do too much because it limits our motion. We find ourselves living a life trying to avoid the pain that comes from our previous comfort.  The lesson, comfort can be painful. We must make a conscious decision to avoid comfortable living if we are to prevent the pain and the limited mobility that accompanies it. If you’re experiencing the pain and limited mobility that comes from living comfortably, I have a solution. Try stretching. This involves gradual efforts to restore your range of motion. Restoring hope is a stretch. Being willing to dream is a stretch. Moving past mindsets and mentalities that have caused limitations is a stretch. Another remedy is to apply heat. This gets the blood flowing, loosens the muscles and frees the nerves. Heat speaks of intensity. We must develop an intensity about our lives. We must be progressive and proactive. The process to recovery may be painful. It may be difficult. It will require work. The reality, though, is it is worth it. We’ve all put ourselves in positions that weren’t beneficial for us. We’ve created situations that have caused us to settle. Now that we realize it, let’s move toward recovery and healing. Remember, it’s one thing to have a crook in our necks but it’s another matter to live a crooked life. Refuse to live crooked because the pain will be unbearable when you wake up.