Tag: sleep schedule | A Banana Peeled

Yesterday, I wrote about sleep and how mine has been getting more erratic in the past few months. I was not sure why because it’s been pretty consistent since I left the hospital. A tight eight hours, waking up once to pee. Yes, I had been pushing the time back later and later, but I was still getting my eight hours. In the last month or two, however, it’s been reverting to how it was before. Waking up and not being able to fall back asleep. Six-and-a-hlaf hours total instead of eight. I have no idea why because it’s not as if my life is very different.

Then, I realized why it might be. I have started to do more Bagua than I have before. It’s still an internal martial art, yes, but it’s way more energetic than Taiji is. It gets my blood going, and it makes me so hyped. My Taiji teacher told me to do it in the morning when I first wake up because it really pumped up the blood. I try to do it early in my Taiji routine, but it still seems to keep me agitated hours later.

I can’t say it’s a direct correlation, obviously, but it seemed to have started at the same time as when I got serious about Bagua. When it was just walking the circle, it didn’t get my blood up as much. In general, the walking the circle did not get to me like that. It’s the teacup move that does it. It’s hard to explain, but it’s moving your hands in a certain pattern while holding your hands flat as if a teacup full of tea is on each one. The drill is for each hand forward, individually, then bothtogether. After, it’s each hand backwards, individually, then both. This is what gets me going, and I’m pumped.

If this is the reason that I’m having more trouble with my sleep, then so be it. It makes me feel better in general, and that’s what is important. I am still getting eight-ish hours on a regular basis. I’m just waking twice and not falling back to sleep as easily.

I’m ok with it, though, because I’m still getting enough sleep. It’s weird, though ,that some days I’m raring ot go and other days I just want to constantly nap. I’ll wake up, struggle to do something for five minutes, then fall back asleep. Other days, I just sail through everything I need to do without a second thought.

I want sex. It’s been more than a hot second since I’ve had it, and now is exactly not the time to seek it out. There is no way to copulate with six feet between me and another person, and the idea of wearing masks…well, that’s not my kink. I know there’s Skypesex and sexting, but neither are what I want right now. I had no point with that, but I just wanted to throw it out there.

Let’s talk sleep. My schedule has taken a drastic turn for the worse. I’ve been going to bed as late as 5:30 in the morning, which, how the hell did I used to do this on the regs? Part of the problem is Spiritfarer, I’ll be frank. If I start playing it any time after midnight, all bets are off when I’ll actually end up sleeping.

There are deeper reasons, however, and they’re the same as they ever were plus exciting new Covid-19-related reasons. One, the longer I stay awake, the longer I put off having to get up for the next day. No, it doesn’t make sense, but my brain doesn’t care about that. Two, I just don’t sleep well. At all. The weighted blanket has helped as had taiji, but it’s still fraught with all kinds of bullshit.

With all that being said, what I actually want to talk about is cooking. I don’t cook. Or rather, I didn’t cook. I didn’t see the point in it because it’s a lot of work for someone who lives alone. Yes, I know about batch cooking and freezing and whatnot, but I simply didn’t want to do it. I don’t like to cook–yes, yes, I know that’s heresy in this day and age–and I resisted any urge to do so. There’s a whole lot of gendered expectations wrapped up in all that, but mostly, it was just too much trouble.

Here’s the thing about depression as I experience it. I live with a triage mentality every day. What absolutely has to get done and what can be punted down the line. For example, I’m doing laundry today. I should have done it at least a month ago. It’s a bit more acceptable because I don’t go anywhere, but I’m down to skirts and ripped t-shirts. Even in the Before Times, I pushed laundry until the very last moment, but this is beyond ridiculous.

If I make something a routine such as my wake-up taiji regime, then my brain just takes it as an immutable. Again, don’t ask me how it works because I don’t know, but it’s my way of tricking my brain. I get up, take my thyroid pill, feed Shadow, clean the litter, brush/floss my teeth, and then taiji routine. This is sacrosanct, and I don’t question it. Something like laundry, however, which is not done every day, it’s much harder to force my brain to do it. I’ve been meaning to do it for the past two or three weeks, but my brain has overridden all my intentions.

How did I make myself do it this time? Not entirely sure. I just started throwing things down once I woke up, but I had done that a few weeks ago as well. I simply wouldn’t allow my brain to detour from it, which is something else I can do from time to time. Yes, it’s like my brain is a computer that I have to override, which is annoying as fuck.

Tag Archives: sleep schedule

Sleep is my bugaboo

Spicing up my life