Getting It Up
By "It", of course, I mean what Timothy Leary adroitly referred to as The Robot, and what others have called the Shell, the Form, the Meat, the Carrier, and even, in very boring conversations, the Body.
How to get it up?
I don’t mean wake it up — there, I’m way past having any problems. I wake up ahead of my alarm(s) about 85% of the time now. But actually getting out of bed is a big problem — even for naps, I’m routinely snagging "five more minutes", and it’s irritating as hell. Half the time I’m not even tired, or don’t even fall back to sleep — the last time, I laid in bed wide awake through two snooze-alarms, and then fell asleep again. Good frakking grief!
The reasons for it are psychological — I’m quite sure of that and, as I’ve mentioned, it’s by far not the only psychohiccuping going on at the moment — so maybe the answer has to be psychological as well. To be honest, I don’t care if the answer’s culinary, as long as there is one and I figure it out. I’m sick of being scattered, routine-wise, and tired of being tired, even if I’m not tired very often. (I’m tired more than I should be; I think that’s what’s getting me: Normative exhaustion. ;)
So, ideas are welcome. I’m going to brainstorm myself a list of possible answers this weekend, holiday crap allowing. (Speaking of the holidays, if you missed the South Park Easter special, you should seriously consider un-missing it (if, of course, you have that special variety of humor that appreciates SP). It was…astonishing. Is anybody but me amazed that that show is still bringing Teh Funny and still completely uncompromising, after all this time??)
I shouldn’t act like this is such a hard issue — it’s not, assuming some basic things that I don’t have going for me. Take my difficulty formulating a simple wake-up routine as a comment on my lifestyle, please, and not on Everyman as a schedule. These problems are difficult to solve because of my living circumstances, that’s all. For most people that I’ve talked to, the issue of a wake-up routine is pretty easy; if you have even a room to go to that affords a little privacy, it’s pretty simple. I just don’t — yet. (My recent attempts to buy a house could still succeed, and all this will be moot!)
Happy Weird Semi-Christian Holiday With Egg-Laying Bunnies, all!
7 comments
Perhaps the evil chocolate bunnies don’t like Everyman, my last couple weeks have been awful (sleepingly speaking). I just not interested in getting up and sometimes I keep awake for up to an hour. Whatever solutions you cook up I’m interested too.
Now, I wonder if you mean “awful” in terms of number and/or extremity of failures, or “awful” in the sense that you feel awful.
For my part, I feel mostly okay, just tired after every time I screw up. But I’ve been screwing up almost once daily for the last month, which in my personal parlance is just not cool, so I might call it “awful” in terms of its relationship to my goals.
Speaking of chocolate bunnies, I haven’t been eating very well lately either…I fell off the water-wagon, have been overindulging in caffeine and sugar, and have been missing dinner more often. Hmm.
Luck to both of us!
Could it be that you’re suffering from a mild case of … motherhood?
Life counselors for those with young children say that the most desperate refrain they hear is the desire for more sleep. In your case, perhaps, more rest. My pet theory is that, entirely aside from young children being an exhausting experience, nature is also using tiredness to anchor you to your kids — you can’t so easily go out and make trouble for yourself (which would obviously endanger your genes’ propagation unto future generations.)
OK, that’s a whack pet theory. Here’s a better one: It Takes a Village. I think Abraham Clinton said that. Or maybe it was Hillary Lincoln. Whatever. My point: Parenthood was never meant to be a job for two people (or perhaps 1.5 people, when you consider how nebulous fatherhood can be as a social concept. It’s just going to be heavier on the mother, regardless of how concerned and involved the father is.) I hate glass-half-full blandishments like “You’re probably doing better than most mothers” (I give you permission to respond with “Fuck you very much for your kind words”) but it may well be the case. Compare notes with other mothers. You might actually be doing comparatively well, and your Everyman experience might be a boon to other mothers. Tune up your diet a little, first,, though, and see how that goes.
It’s a good theory, really. It’s not true in my case, but only because I’m fantastically lucky — I actually have a village.
I’m divorced, to start. My ex is very involved with our daughter and takes her for a couple days a week. He also has a big family, so she has grandparents, cousins, siblings and the whole shebang on that side. My husband is from a family where almost every single adult is a teacher, and mine is the only young child. She has two more grandparents here, plus a steady stream of aunts and uncles and educators just dying to do take her to all kinds of age-appropriate activities. Also, she has two other adopted-grandparents that are friends of mine (I get along well with older women), plus my parents — that’s eight.
Toddlers can be hard on anyone, and I do work and do school, which means that making sure I have time for my kid is both mandatory and often difficult…but man, the sanity of the parents is *definitely* in direct proportion to the number and quality of grandparents. The fact that we have so many who are so awesome makes my life ten times better, plus I have a well-adjusted, physically fit, overeducated, socially-brilliant, confident and happy kid.
If I ever get rich I’m going to do something spectacular for grandmothers. Swear it. ;)
(By the way, your comments post here even if you get that stupid error…sorry ’bout that.)
I’m glad you posted this, though, because it’s one of many valid considerations that polyphasers should be factoring in. In my case, I’m sure it’s much more diet, housing, and some variety of laxiness that’s giving me trouble, but this is still darn good advice.
Thanks!
I think my problem (same as yours with the “I don’t wanna get up!”) is not having a plan. I need to have a specific goal for what I will do when I get up, and then I do. Mornings that I work - no problem, I’m getting up, showering, eating, etc. Weekends are harder, no plans…
Lunch-hour naps - no sweat, if I’m not back inside in an hour, I lose my job - good motivation (plus it’s hard as heck to sleep in the car in TX heat).
Afternoon naps, however, I find more difficult to get up after.
So, I’m working on planning what I will do when I get up, and fixing that in my head as the last thing I do before I go to sleep. Wish me luck!
Snicker
You may just need a vacation, or at least a substantial break from your current environment.
Here is an article on general causes of lifestyle fatigue. Here is another. I do not know how much this would apply to you, but the number one cause of new small business failure in New York is when the entrepreneur fall sick from doing too much at once, and the business suffers. Stress definitely can cause illness. You sound like someone who would do too much at once.
Or maybe you are killing yourself with dietary lectins.
You are all very wise…and probably everyone here is at least a little right. (Sabbath, you’re always irritatingly right; you don’t count. ;)
I’m going to view all this in a positive light, work on putting it all back together, and maybe I’ll learn something that’ll be of benefit to someone else later.
Thank you VERY much for reading & commenting, everyone. I do appreciate it.
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