The Slacker Files

Amy Cissell
June 17, 2014
Aggressive Happiness, Dammit!, Not Dead Yet!
601

I haven’t been sleeping much lately, and not sleeping really messes up my whole life.

Things that happen when I don’t go to sleep at night:

I do not wake up at 5 am in the morning
If I don’t wake up at 5, I don’t do my morning writing
If I don’t wake up at 5, I don’t hit the gym for weights
If I don’t wake up at 5, I don’t get up until 7
If I don’t get up until 7, I don’t have time to drink coffee, make my lunch, and get Mr. Bean up & dressed & fed
If I don’t get up until 7, I don’t get to work until 8:30
If I don’t get to work until 8:30, I miss that morning sweet spot of productivity
And then I spin my wheels because I’m tired, and cranky, and haven’t done any of the things that make me happy in the morning (write, exercise, be super productive by 10 am)
And then, I’m cranky and craving gross cafeteria food and cookies, and since I didn’t pack my lunch, I eat gross cafeteria food and cookies
And then I’m tired and don’t work out on my lunch break or after work
And so I go home and play with Bean and have dinner and then the day is a waste, so I sit and the sleeplessness starts all over.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve written less than 7500 words (half of which were on Saturday). I worked out zero times last week after the architect’s and my hike last Monday. I feel crappy because I’m tired. I’m feeling stressed at work. And at home. I’m over caffeinated and under exercised.

And I’m having trouble caring. (Bright spot? I’m all the way through season 7 of Supernatural and finished the latest in the Iron Druid series – released at midnight on 6/17/14 (yes today) eastern time, or 9 pm my time. Yeah, didn’t get much sleep last night either. This may or may not be a bright spot.)

Something needs to change.

Today’s dictionary.com word of the day was “beget.” It totally made me think of Carla since she wrote an entire blog post on begetting recently. And that reminded me that if I want to see changes in how I’m dealing with life, I need to pretend that those changes are already made.

And so, here at sleepy thirty on a Tuesday, I am telling you about the changes that will happen today.

I will exercise during my carved out exercise time. I don’t have any exercise gear, so it’ll have to just be a walk, but I’m walking for 40 minutes starting at 11:30.
I will pick up a healthy lunch on my way back to my office after lunch walk
I will spend the afternoon reviewing my to-do list and gearing up for a productive week in the office. I will knock off all the tiny tasks that are just a PITA in preparation for the bigger projects taking up all my time the rest of the week.
I will play outside with bean for 30 minutes tonight and then make a healthy dinner.
After Bean’s bedtime, I will shower, put away the laundry, make tomorrow’s coffee, and go to bed. No sitting on the couch. Bed by 9:30.

Those seem like decent enough, totally achievable goals, yes?

As a reward for making it all the way through the post, I present to you Alvie Bean: