The Power of Suggestion
So, I mentioned yesterday that I would be reminding myself before I went to bed that I needed to GET UP and use the bathroom if I woke up feeling the urge.
Last night, I got into bed at 10, and before I turned off the light, I consciously reminded myself of this... and it totally worked! I actually had to get up twice, and both times I hopped right up.
The power of suggestion: it can work!
Of course, I still feel lousy today, but I guess it's only been a couple of nights in a row of going to bed early. We'll see.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
2 of 12 in 2012
It is February First, which means it's time for goal #2! I have been struggling with what to pursue as my goal, but have decided upon tackling.....
SLEEP PROBLEMS.
I don't know about you, but I basically wake up feeling like total crap each and every morning. It doesn't actually seem to matter how many hours of sleep I get, but I suppose I feel like a BIGGER pile of crap on mornings after fewer hours of sleep. I rarely get 8 hours of sleep in a night, and they are never uninterrupted. And even when I get 8-12 hours of sleep in a night, I STILL feel horrible. Every. Single. Day.
I will also point out here that I deleted "shit" and added in "crap", but couldn't manage to keep it totally out of this post. I feel very strongly about how lousy I feel in the morning!
Anyway, I see the sleep problem like this:
*I am more of a night owl. If I could, I would go to sleep at midnight and wake up around 9. As a matter of fact, over the summer when I am not working, this is the pattern I seem to fall into. However, I need to be at work by 7:30, so clearly my natural pattern must be disobeyed if I am to keep my job.
*I am a light sleeper. Noises, even my own snoring when I have a cold, wake me up. Bad dreams wake me up. Needing to use the bathroom wakes me up.
*I wake up almost every night because I need to pee, but I don't always wake up enough to actually get up and GO. This means that I'm half awake, I still have to pee, can't figure out that I should probably just get up and take care of it, and can't fall back asleep. I think this problem arose because sometimes when I get up to pee, I can't fall back asleep, so I'm unconsciously afraid to get out of bed, for fear of tossing and turning for the rest of the night. Which I'm doing anyway.
*I'd rather stay up later, and 10pm doesn't feel like a good bed time for me.
*I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep for HOURS.
*I am so tired when I get home from work, that I sometimes (not always) take a nap, which makes it even harder to fall asleep at night.
So, here's my plan. I don't think each of the above problems is solvable, but I'm hoping I can at least increase the hours of sleep I'm getting every night.
1. All electronics with a glowy screen get turned off at 10. This includes weekends unless I am out socializing with friends.
2. Caffeine is only to be consumed prior to noon. (I already do this, so it should be no problem)
3. In bed by 10:30. (Although with electronics turned off, I assume I'll get into bed right at 10!)
4. Try to limit liquid intake in the evening. This one is going to be tough, though, because I exercise in the evenings and get thirsty!
5. Remind myself before going to bed that I have to get up if I feel the need to use the bathroom.
6. If sticking to the bed time routine is not helping, I will begin working with a book my Mom gave me about meditation.
7. Keep a sleep log to track my progress.
8. NO NAPS. This one is going to be tough.
9. At the end of the month, analyze the results and see whether it's worth continuing with this goal.
One of my fears is that even if I'm getting more sleep on a regular basis, I'll still feel like crap every morning. I mean, I feel that way now even when I get, say, 12 hours of sleep, so why in the world would I think it would be any different otherwise? However, I at least need to give it a shot.
It is February First, which means it's time for goal #2! I have been struggling with what to pursue as my goal, but have decided upon tackling.....
SLEEP PROBLEMS.
I don't know about you, but I basically wake up feeling like total crap each and every morning. It doesn't actually seem to matter how many hours of sleep I get, but I suppose I feel like a BIGGER pile of crap on mornings after fewer hours of sleep. I rarely get 8 hours of sleep in a night, and they are never uninterrupted. And even when I get 8-12 hours of sleep in a night, I STILL feel horrible. Every. Single. Day.
I will also point out here that I deleted "shit" and added in "crap", but couldn't manage to keep it totally out of this post. I feel very strongly about how lousy I feel in the morning!
Anyway, I see the sleep problem like this:
*I am more of a night owl. If I could, I would go to sleep at midnight and wake up around 9. As a matter of fact, over the summer when I am not working, this is the pattern I seem to fall into. However, I need to be at work by 7:30, so clearly my natural pattern must be disobeyed if I am to keep my job.
*I am a light sleeper. Noises, even my own snoring when I have a cold, wake me up. Bad dreams wake me up. Needing to use the bathroom wakes me up.
*I wake up almost every night because I need to pee, but I don't always wake up enough to actually get up and GO. This means that I'm half awake, I still have to pee, can't figure out that I should probably just get up and take care of it, and can't fall back asleep. I think this problem arose because sometimes when I get up to pee, I can't fall back asleep, so I'm unconsciously afraid to get out of bed, for fear of tossing and turning for the rest of the night. Which I'm doing anyway.
*I'd rather stay up later, and 10pm doesn't feel like a good bed time for me.
*I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep for HOURS.
*I am so tired when I get home from work, that I sometimes (not always) take a nap, which makes it even harder to fall asleep at night.
So, here's my plan. I don't think each of the above problems is solvable, but I'm hoping I can at least increase the hours of sleep I'm getting every night.
1. All electronics with a glowy screen get turned off at 10. This includes weekends unless I am out socializing with friends.
2. Caffeine is only to be consumed prior to noon. (I already do this, so it should be no problem)
3. In bed by 10:30. (Although with electronics turned off, I assume I'll get into bed right at 10!)
4. Try to limit liquid intake in the evening. This one is going to be tough, though, because I exercise in the evenings and get thirsty!
5. Remind myself before going to bed that I have to get up if I feel the need to use the bathroom.
6. If sticking to the bed time routine is not helping, I will begin working with a book my Mom gave me about meditation.
7. Keep a sleep log to track my progress.
8. NO NAPS. This one is going to be tough.
9. At the end of the month, analyze the results and see whether it's worth continuing with this goal.
One of my fears is that even if I'm getting more sleep on a regular basis, I'll still feel like crap every morning. I mean, I feel that way now even when I get, say, 12 hours of sleep, so why in the world would I think it would be any different otherwise? However, I at least need to give it a shot.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Month 1: Results are in
As today is the end of January, it seems appropriate that I review my first month's goal. To review, my goals were:
1. Tracking all of the money I spend
2. Analyzing the results to see whether I could/should continue for the rest of the year
For the first part of the goal, I successfully tracked every penny I spent for the month of January. As one would expect, the simple act of writing everything down makes you reassess whether or not you want to buy something, because you don't want to write it down!
I figured out that once all of my "fixed" bills were paid, I spent about 2/3 of the money that was left over. Frankly, I was hoping that I'd do better than that, but there weren't a whole lot of areas where I could have shaved down. I did buy some coffees in the morning, and bought some yarn I probably could have lived without, but those expenses weren't high enough that they would have made THAT big a difference in the overall percentage of "extra" money spent.
Still, I do think that the exercise was worthwhile, and I do intend to continue for the rest of the year. I assume that there will be months where I spend 100% of the extra, and maybe there might even be some months that I do better than I think I could. We'll see!
I haven't even decided yet what February's goal will be. I figure I have another 24 hours to figure that one out.
As today is the end of January, it seems appropriate that I review my first month's goal. To review, my goals were:
1. Tracking all of the money I spend
2. Analyzing the results to see whether I could/should continue for the rest of the year
For the first part of the goal, I successfully tracked every penny I spent for the month of January. As one would expect, the simple act of writing everything down makes you reassess whether or not you want to buy something, because you don't want to write it down!
I figured out that once all of my "fixed" bills were paid, I spent about 2/3 of the money that was left over. Frankly, I was hoping that I'd do better than that, but there weren't a whole lot of areas where I could have shaved down. I did buy some coffees in the morning, and bought some yarn I probably could have lived without, but those expenses weren't high enough that they would have made THAT big a difference in the overall percentage of "extra" money spent.
Still, I do think that the exercise was worthwhile, and I do intend to continue for the rest of the year. I assume that there will be months where I spend 100% of the extra, and maybe there might even be some months that I do better than I think I could. We'll see!
I haven't even decided yet what February's goal will be. I figure I have another 24 hours to figure that one out.
Friday, January 20, 2012
TGIF!
I haven't been in this good a mood in quite a while. It's Friday, I slept for 7 hours in a row last night, I didn't realize it had snowed until I stepped out the door to go to work (and it looked so pretty), I have dinner plans with friends tonight, I stopped at Brew'd Awakening this morning and have a GOOD cup of coffee at the ready...
all seems right with the world.
I haven't been in this good a mood in quite a while. It's Friday, I slept for 7 hours in a row last night, I didn't realize it had snowed until I stepped out the door to go to work (and it looked so pretty), I have dinner plans with friends tonight, I stopped at Brew'd Awakening this morning and have a GOOD cup of coffee at the ready...
all seems right with the world.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Halfway Through January
So, it's halfway through January, and I figured I'd provide an update thus far. Good news- I have stuck to resolution #1! I have indeed been writing down every penny spent, and it's been interesting thus far. I find that I naturally curb my spending more if I'm paying close, daily attention than otherwise. It is what you'd expect, naturally! Of course, it does take a little time and attention every day, going through receipts, quickly jotting down expenses when there are no receipts, and tallying things up at the end of the month... that part I haven't gotten to yet this month, of course.
Anyway, I am glad that I've started back up with this habit. Only a couple more weeks until I unveil Resolution #2! Stay tuned!
So, it's halfway through January, and I figured I'd provide an update thus far. Good news- I have stuck to resolution #1! I have indeed been writing down every penny spent, and it's been interesting thus far. I find that I naturally curb my spending more if I'm paying close, daily attention than otherwise. It is what you'd expect, naturally! Of course, it does take a little time and attention every day, going through receipts, quickly jotting down expenses when there are no receipts, and tallying things up at the end of the month... that part I haven't gotten to yet this month, of course.
Anyway, I am glad that I've started back up with this habit. Only a couple more weeks until I unveil Resolution #2! Stay tuned!
Monday, January 02, 2012
12 in 12 in 2012
I've never had much luck with resolutions. The only one I ever got to stick was the resolution to start using reusable shopping bags... that resolution went quite well, to the point that I didn't have any plastic bags left in the house to use for garbage bags! I also did quite well with my "five year plan" to pay down a bunch of debt. *pats self on back*
2011 was an all right year for me, but looking back, nothing really stellar stands out for me. I'd like for 2012 to be a little different. To that end, I'm going to try to make 12 changes over 12 months. I'm going to start with what I consider to be a "gimme", because I want to start with a success. For me, making financial changes seems to be easy in comparison to, say, going to bed early. So, we start with that.
For the month of January, I will improve my financial health by doing the following:
1. Tracking all of the money I spend
2. Analyzing the results to see whether I could/should continue for the rest of the year
Folks, I have done this for years at a time. I fell off the wagon in 2011, but it should be easy enough to start back up. I can do this one!
I haven't actually figured out goals 2-11 yet. I am thinking about the following:
Improve my sleep habits
Exercise regularly
Track my eating habits (I have gained a lot of weight over the last 1 1/2 years, and am not feeling my best)
Rekindle my enjoyment of my camera
Spend less time mindlessly surfing internet
Learn to meditate
Blog more often
Read more (I love to read - why don't I read more???)
Keep home in a tidier state
Part of the problem, as I see it: We all want to do better on most of these things. But why don't we? Why is it so hard to get it together? For me, it's certainly not a lack of time or finances. I work very close to home, don't work long hours, don't have a family. None of these tasks will cost much money, if any at all. In fact, #1 will hopefully have me SAVING money. I guess we get tired, distracted, or the to-do list just looks too long for us to actually believe that we can ever make a dent in it.
At any rate, I'm going to give this a try. For what it's worth, it's already January 9 and I've been tracking my spending all month, and have set up a nifty little spreadsheet and everything.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Heartwarming
I was in an unusually good mood when I left work today. I have a cold, had to stay late and STILL didn't get all of my work finished, and had more than one reason to be crabby, but for some reason, I wasn't. Because of this good mood, I stopped for some teenagers to jaywalk downtown... I think part of it was the good mood, and part of it was because they were waiting politely rather than just blasting into traffic.
Anyway, I thought I recognized one of the students, so I said his name out of the window of my car, but then decided I was wrong; it wasn't who I thought it was. A moment later, after I had parked in the parking garage, there he was, standing outside waiting for me. "You were right, it was me... so I figured I'd better come and find out who was saying my name!" I re-introduced myself, and once he remembered who I was, he gave me a big hug and I said I'd walk him to his next destination as we chatted.
I was his counselor almost ten years ago. He had been referred to me after he witnessed a terrible event that left him parentless. He struggled a little in school, but was always such a nice and lovable little kid. A Now, he is a senior in high school, and is looking at colleges he wants to go to next year. He has a nice group of friends, a nice variety of after school activities, and he seems well spoken, sociable, and is as kind as always.
I was just thrilled that he is living a nice life. I was also secretly pleased that he remembered me, and that he was willing to share a little bit about how his life has been going. I hope I run into him again someday; I would love to see him in another ten years and see how he's doing. Here's hoping he crosses the road in front of me one day, when I'm in another good mood!
I was in an unusually good mood when I left work today. I have a cold, had to stay late and STILL didn't get all of my work finished, and had more than one reason to be crabby, but for some reason, I wasn't. Because of this good mood, I stopped for some teenagers to jaywalk downtown... I think part of it was the good mood, and part of it was because they were waiting politely rather than just blasting into traffic.
Anyway, I thought I recognized one of the students, so I said his name out of the window of my car, but then decided I was wrong; it wasn't who I thought it was. A moment later, after I had parked in the parking garage, there he was, standing outside waiting for me. "You were right, it was me... so I figured I'd better come and find out who was saying my name!" I re-introduced myself, and once he remembered who I was, he gave me a big hug and I said I'd walk him to his next destination as we chatted.
I was his counselor almost ten years ago. He had been referred to me after he witnessed a terrible event that left him parentless. He struggled a little in school, but was always such a nice and lovable little kid. A Now, he is a senior in high school, and is looking at colleges he wants to go to next year. He has a nice group of friends, a nice variety of after school activities, and he seems well spoken, sociable, and is as kind as always.
I was just thrilled that he is living a nice life. I was also secretly pleased that he remembered me, and that he was willing to share a little bit about how his life has been going. I hope I run into him again someday; I would love to see him in another ten years and see how he's doing. Here's hoping he crosses the road in front of me one day, when I'm in another good mood!
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