It is an often repeated cliche that in adulthood our rewards to ourselves are our punishments as children. I would hazard a guess that every child has said something of this sort:
“When I grow up I am going to eat fries everyday and stay up all night!”
Then you become a grown up and what do you want? A healthy dinner and an early night. I fail on both accounts!
I live within a literal stone’s throw from a kebab place, well maybe not me throwing since I have the athleticism of a dead weasel – certainly you wouldn’t need a trebuchet – maybe one of those dog ball things. Anyway getting that kind of food is very easy – and that is not even counting getting food delivered. Even when I cook I don’t tend to cook the food that is best for me.
And when it comes to going to bed on time… well that is bad too…
I never go to bed at a good time. Most nights I get six hours of sleep. This morning (Saturday) I have had coffee as I am feeling so tired. When I went to bed last night there was 6 hours and 59 minutes till my alarm would beep – apparently it was not enough time!
It is funny though that to be healthy we’re supposed to spend a third of our lives unconscious! I tend to view sleep as necessary evil! Going to bed when my to-do list still has stuff on feels…
Alright it is not entirely the to-do list! What tends to happen is that I get my stuff done until I feel too tired – then I meander around on line until I end up going to bed too late!
Of course sometimes the human body doesn’t know what it wants. On these days of six hours of sleep it is clear it is not enough – but then when I don’t have an alarm set I still tend to wake up after that amount of time! As happened today. (It is now Sunday.)
The key is self discipline, well duh, and being able to switch off and unplug. Which is always a hard thing to do. I think that living alone makes it harder. If you are sitting with a partner or housemate and both yawning one of you might suggest it is time for sleep. However sitting alone at the computer it is all too easy just to watch one more video…
I think too that there is something in the silence that is scary – which is odd because I also feel overwhelmed on the phone all day. So that is my challenge to try and switch off – I do not have high hopes. See you next week.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
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Unstable Orbit 