The world is a beautiful place. But it takes a little time to get used to it every morning. Some people travel a little too far in their sleep and are disappointed when they keep waking up in the same place, day after day.
It does not explain why I wake up angry. But it helps to know that I am not the only one. There are online forums dedicated to this horrible problem – there is a forum for every little thing, anyway – but it counts. There is a Facebook page to provide warmth of friendship and multiple threads on Yahoo Answers to provide I-don’t-know-what to the afflicted. My point here is that I am not wasting your time with some diddley do; it is a serious problem that affects a lot of gentle souls.
Those of you, who are still smiling, let me tell you, it’s not a nice feeling to wake up with a mace in your hand and vengeance on your mind. Most of us average people wake up next to people we love or live with. A little anger in the morning pays itself back many times over during the day. So, it’s not even practical. Then why do we continue to rise with a frown?
We don’t have a choice. We suffer from a disease, just like those who suffer from amnesia, dyslexia and Alzheimer’s etc. Our suffering is not a result of our lifestyle, genes or sins of past lives. It is because of reasons as unexplained as the wrath of god, the wisdom tooth and the Bermuda triangle.
If Freud were alive, he would have tried to explain it as a regressive behavior. Now that he is not around, let me take the liberty of putting words into his mouth. Here is what he might have said:
Sleeping resembles the fetal state of the man. So, every time we sleep, we try to go back to the security and warmth of our mother’s womb. So the act of waking up is, in a way, a re-enactment of the act of delivery. For the unconscious, being delivered is the end of innocence. It brings back unconscious memories of being thrust out of a safe and warm place, out into the harsh unforgiving world. Therefore, the instinctive and unprovoked anger.
Now that the great Freud has spoken, we have the final word on the issue. No amount of cold milk, laxative, wife’s love, work-life balance, sweet sounding alarm clocks, coconut coir mattress, ethical living or exorcism will do any good. It can’t be cured.
There are only ways of living with it.
If you are the girlfriend, ask yourself again. The wives should get separate beds, or rooms; mothers can resort to religion; children can pray to grow faster and move out earlier and bachelor roommates can wake up early and reach for the baseball bat first.
But we can’t change. We poor babies don’t have a choice, you see!
