Reading · The Lady Party with Margot Potter

The Sleeping Princess, Arthur Rackham 1916 Public Domain Wikimedia Commons

Hello, Friend,

I usually post on Wednesdays. As I have not tapped out anything of consequence and the day is almost over, I’ve opted to share an essay from my 2019 self-published e-book Zen Master Slacker Mommy. It is only available on Amazon. I am sorry about that. At the time it was the best platform for self-publishing and I’d grown weary of being screwed by traditional publishers.

An excerpt from Zen Master Slacker Mommy by Margot Potter, Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

Yesterday my daughter informed me, rather matter-of-factly, that Sleep Paralysis is a thing.

Me: NO! That’s not a thing! DAMN YOU, SMARTY PANTS CHILD!

Her: Oh, it’s a thing, Mom.

Me: Oh, hell no.

A quick web search revealed that she was right, it’s a thing.

Damn it.

Sleep Paralysis happens when you are half awake, half asleep and you cannot move. You wake up, completely aware of your surroundings and yet you feel paralyzed. Has this ever happened to you? It has happened to me many times over the years and it is FREAKY. Someone once told me that this is because you were having an out of body experience and you’re half in, half out. I used to have a lot of kick ass flying dreams. I could get behind that thought, because it was kind of a fun dream state adventure time thing. Out of body experience fallout? Totally acceptable explanation.

Before you think me completely daft, let me stress that the very nature of what we perceive as reality is tenuous at best. In fact, reality is an illusion. It’s a trick of the light, a construct of our minds, manufactured evidence of our experience. Even solid things are not solid. We’re all just a bunch of star dust momentarily gathered together in the not very real time space continuum. Because we’ve agreed to accept the illusion, it is real, but not really. Reality is perception

Perhaps, then, Sleep Paralysis happens when our perception is altered enough to remind us that this isn’t real.

Or not.

I’m not a physicist.

Still, the confirmation that this horrid state of being, which I deeply dread, is ‘a thing’ is disturbing on many levels. Knowing now that it’s a thing gives it a strange sort of power. I thought it was just me. Thinking it was just me was comforting. Is that weird?

I felt the same way when I discovered that Restless Legs Syndrome was a thing. I thought I just had a strange need to wiggle my legs before I went to sleep. Suddenly, it was a thing! A thing other people had that could be controlled with Parkinson’s medicine. What? Are you freaking kidding me?

I decided to ignore the facts and pretend that it wasn’t a thing, just me wiggling my legs for no apparent reason. Since making that decision, I have found that it happens less frequently. Perception can affect reality; did you know that? Yup, that’s a thing.

Therefore, I’m not going to give this Sleep Paralysis any further thought. It may be a thing, but it’s not my thing.

Denial, now that’s a thing in which I can believe.