Your Low-Stress Guide to Leveling-Up Your Bedtime Routine
Are You Burnt Out or Depressed?
Emblems of purity popped up everywherenothing but statues of the Virgin Mary mingling with unicorn figurines.
Welcome to the Wholesome Realm, a museum of my former extended adolescence.
Im going to address sexuality first, because my libido was the first casualty of my return home.
This association, combined with thesex-drive lowering effects of the pandemicmade me feel, well,neverin the mood.
A simple analogy is thinking about how our behavior changes when we get home, Teplin says.
psychotherapist and founder of Manhattan Wellness
Sexuality is absolutely similar.
Sexuality is absolutely similar.
Im in a Zoom meeting.
Mom, Im talking to my friend.
Oh my effing God, Mom, you’re gonna wanna stop.
Mom, get OUT, are you literally kidding me right now?
I need you to knock, Mom, and I need you to end the door behind you.
MOM, THAT ISNT CLOSING THE DOOR.
MOM, I DONT WANT TO MAKE MY BED, NOBODY IS COMING OVER, IT IS A PANDEMIC.
You get the picture.
So that morning in April, after locking eyes with Miss Piggy, I realized that I felt trapped.
The Wholesome Realm had stolen my sexuality, my disposition, my solitude, and my sense of agency.
But you know what sleeping in my bed from my childhood joyously did bring me?
An actual good nights sleep.
That nearly never happened for me in the City That Very Literally Never Sleeps.
My teen bedroom aesthetics are oppressively girly, but theyre consistent.
Our childhood bedroom is woven with memories, experiences, and history.
And at some point, it quietly dawned on me that I had a comfortable adolescence.
Adult anxieties, aka the things that keep you up at night.
And what I really needed during lockdown was a return to childlike innocence.
I went back to the Wholesome Realm because it was safe, and I was loved there.
As I bang out this, Im back in my New York apartment, and I feel safe.
The Wholesome Realm isnt my ideal living situation, but there are definitely worse beds I could lie in.
…
Got it, you’ve been added to our email list.
