When Sleep Becomes Currency

When you’re a full-time dad and full-time baker, sleep doesn’t feel like a luxury—it feels more like a rare currency that’s traded for every ounce of time you get to work on your passions, be with your family, and somehow keep your sanity intact. I’m running on 4 hours of sleep a day, and let’s just say if sleep were money, I’d be broke as hell. But somehow, I make it work.

My day starts at 3 AM, when the bakery doesn’t care if I’m a walking corpse. The dough still needs kneading, the ovens still need watching, and customers still expect fresh pastries. It’s a surreal experience—standing there, covered in flour, your body screaming for a break while your mind is barely functioning. But somehow, in the midst of it all, we find moments of absurd humor. The bakers and I, all dead to the world, laugh like lunatics over the dumbest things, the kind of humor that would make most people clutch their pearls in shock. But it’s that dark, tired humor that gets us through the madness of 3 AM.

When the bakery shifts from survival mode to semi-coherent, I’m suddenly Dad again. I’m back to the changing diapers, cuddles and playing with my daughter, who, thank God, hasn’t realized that her dad is a walking zombie yet. But between all the dad duties and bakery chaos, I still find pockets of time to pour into my other passions—like timepieces and growing my company. Somehow, even with only 4 hours of sleep, I keep pushing forward. You find the energy when your hearts in it, right?

It’s not easy. In fact, it’s downright insane. I’m juggling dough and diapers, passion and exhaustion, all while trying to keep a sense of humor about it. But when I look at the life I’ve built, the smiles in the bakery, the joy I bring to customers, and the memories with my daughter, it’s all worth it. Sure, I might be running on fumes, but the laughter, the hustle, and the love I pour into every hour of the day make it all feel like something bigger than just a grind.

At the end of the day, sleep might be scarce, but the moments, the joy, and the dark humor that gets me through each day are worth far more.