It’s an incredibly amazing omen when you wake up incredibly late for something incredibly important. An omen it’s gonna be a bad morning.

You rise with the radio playing the latest most-overplayed song. You hurriedly get ready. You note that two matching socks, heck, even two socks of the same color or slightly similar argyle pattern, just don’t feel like waking up themselves. You note that it’s still too early in the morning for this insipid irony.

You then rush to the mirror with hopes of taming your hair when you are struck with the epitome of hideousness. Your hopes are dashed, but you bluff to God and mutter that you’ve see worse, working with whatcha got.

You ignore a nutritional breakfast and grab the box of Chips Ahoy! sitting on your counter from last night’s interim snack. You debate making a fresh pot of coffee, but decide you can’t afford that luxury.

By now, you want to crawl back into bed, to that sweet cloud of cotton candy coated crime, to snuggle with your favorite stuffed pet, to lay your head on your pillow and never rise again.

Alas, you sigh whilst staring lovingly at your bed, and then proceed to dash to school. When you arrive at your destination and someone asks you for a reason for your tardiness, you pause, for here is where your path diverges in two: tell the truth or make a bold-faced but plausible lie?
You take a risk and profess the reality of your situation, only to be met with a disparaging glare for your brashness and a detention.

Now stop, rewind, and pause. Why would you get in trouble for relating the truth; that you slept in much too late, developed a theory about socks, and performed a miraculous feat with your hair all this fine morning?

I’ll tell you. Because sleep, something so simple and sweet, is controversial. No, I’m serious. It’s become so pushed to the side, so low on our list of ever-growing priorities in this ever-changing society that it’s now beneath dusting ceiling fans or counting change. It’s a thing of fantasy to some, as elusive as unicorns. So mysterious, in fact, we brag about how much sleep we don’t get.
“I stayed up till midnight studying for this test.”
“That’s it? My head didn’t hit the pillow till two!”
“…There’s a test today?...”

So, you accept your unjust fate with many not-so-nice words about to roll of thy tongue. However, for the first time in a long while, you have a school day that is not dreadful. You've produced notes from your history lecture, and the pre-calculus lesson didn’t conjure thoughts of despair. You even managed to have an overall productive day of learning. Kudos to you, my friend. The reason for this cause of celebration? Your extra zzz’s.

At this point, may I be so kind as to point out that this, right here, is the reason why most people are ever grumpy? It’s from a deprivation of rest, a lack of energy, and, thus, a shortage of happiness.

That’s right. I’ve discovered the key to happiness: sleep. Again, something so simple possesses this domino effect on everything in your life. If you sleep, you have recuperation; if you have recuperation, you have energy. If you have energy, the possibilites are as limitless as what you could dream of in slumber.

I’m sorry you made this realization so late, but I can understand why. We’re all so used to not having the appropriate amount of rest, and we can’t see the slow but tangible effect seep deficiency holds in our lives. We all know a proper rest is healthy and conducive to life, but it’s pushed to the back burner, to be saved for another day. If I were to ask you when was the last night you slept for a full, fat, and to some, wasteful, eight hours, what would you say?

Last Tuesday? Summertime in 4th grade? The day you discovered wings from Red Bull?

I can’t fathom why sleep is so frowned upon. You feel warm and safe and no one hates you and homework doesn’t even exist when you’re all snuggled in tight. It’s the most wonderful feeling, from an entirely biased view of course.

Whether it is a disco nap or a lazy Sunday afternoon snooze, all instances call for sleep: if you’re so sick you sound like a choking toad, sleep. If you’re stressing over that test, take a siesta and refresh yourself. And if you can’t fall asleep, just wait till morning. Suddenly, you’ll feel very drowsy. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

The lesson here is that sleep is the panacea to all ailments and disasters. It’s like your best friend: under-appreciated, persistent, and readily available. It’s like that God-forsaken, highly caloric Cinnabun: a sticky pastry you feel guilty to have but need to in order to continue living. So please, next time you wake up late, don’t fret.

Next time someone challenges you to a “who-crammed-more-for-this-test” showdown, let them win. And the next crossroads you encounter, where you must choose between unproductive work and sleep, choose correctly. Not only will your body thank you, but everyone else will too. Because at least you aren’t a grumpy, growling monster of the deep like some other unmentionable people.

You are a starburst of joy ready to conquer the world, or at least the following day, one ceiling fan at a time. All kudos to my lock and key to happiness.

Now get some sleep.