Chris' Christian Blog

May 3, 2020

Prompt: "What do you do you relax and unwind in the evening? Paint us a picture of your ideal relaxation."

That is an excellent question. You see I have narcolepsy, a neurological disorder that causes me to fall asleep easily. I can literally go to sleep on my feet. So I take Adderall to keep me awake. Due to my body chemistry and tolerance, I take the maximum dose of Adderall during the day. It does a wonderful job of keeping me awake, but there are times when it over does its job and keeps me awake when I need to be sleeping. To compensate I take a sleeping medication called ambien. I take it at eight PM and go to bed. I put on my CPAP mask (yes I also have sleep apnea) and curl up with a good book. I have been reading my college textbooks recently. I am a graduate student so the topics are things that interest me. I'll read for about an hour as the ambien begins to work. Then when I begin to relax, I will put the book down, turn off my light and pray for awhile. Sometimes I don't finish praying because I will wake up and it's 4:50Am and time to work. I am the floor leader of floor D-2 of the West Virginia Veterans Home. One of my responsibilities is to do morning rounds with the night nurse, who does bed checks and role call. After that I go back to bed for a while or simply start my day. I take my first dose of medication at 6:00Am so I often simply stay up. I do my blogging in the morning and prepare for the day. Starting Monday May 11, 2020 I will be in graduate school at Regent University in Virginia Beach VA, where I am an online Master of Divinity (seminary) student in the chaplain's concentration. I enjoy counseling and serving others and feel Jesus has called me to do spiritual counseling. I know some don't believe in Jesus or they have no relationship with Him. I do and I want to please Him with my life. His presence and blessings are the most real thing in my life.

Today is Sunday so I will be teaching Sunday school and conducting chapel services today. Don't worry. We practice social distancing in chapel and everybody wears masks. We are being very careful with COVID-19 in the vicinity. There are only four or five who attend chapel so we meet in my room, which is bigger than the chapel. We spread chairs six to eight feet apart and don't shake hands or anything.

Tonight when I go to bed I will again do my routine and relax myself to sleep.