Sensory processing differences make Blankets a
big challenge for some. While my son, G, uses the same comforter year-round and
is steaming in the summer and cool in the winter and “Mom, don’t bother me
about this,” and my daughter, Z, always varies her blanket layers flawlessly for
the “just right” amount, I am one of
those people.
Here is a mere sampling of Potential Blanket
Problems: improper weight, inadequate warmth, itchy, scratchy wool, side-to-side
slippage, smallness, bottom-to-top slippage…Rilke said, “A work of art is good
if it has arisen out of necessity”* -- so I’ve made a visual aid for those who
might be unaware of the true scope of this topic.
Figure I – Issues in Blankets
For so long, at night, while trying to sleep or
go back to sleep under Blanket(s) that just could not get right, I practiced
thinking “peaceful” thoughts and feeling peaceful…In fact, for most of my life
I have had an overarching goal of “achieving” “peace.”
A few months ago, I realized:
- I didn’t get one
of those kinds of lives,
and
- Even if I had,
my high physical and emotional sensitivities (SPD) would prevent total,
utter “peace.”
So I decided on more realistic goals – goals that
are worthy and sometimes a stretch but that I’ve for the most part been actually reaching; goals that make me
happy (versus defeated) to think about…:
They are:
To practice living with
1.
much KINDNESS
and
2.
a mighty SENSE
OF HUMOR.
So, now, when sleepless, I try (instead of
perseverating on why I am not as “peaceful” or “asleep” as I should be)
chuckling quietly to myself and, VERY kindly, I do not smack my peacefully
sleeping husband. No, I am kidding about the chuckling. But it does help, with
my particular neurology and bed-ology, to go for the gentle humor of it all instead
of something overly elusive…
I haven’t even discussed mattresses, sheets,
and pillows – or sharing a bed.
Love, and a big, sweet, slightly maniacal smile,
Full Spectrum Mama
*Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (Stephen Mitchell translation)
