Make It Eight

(written on Friday, March 25th)

What a glorious day I've had!
My good days often follow a pattern - fairly good sleep, up bright and early, busy, but productive, fulfilling and very much according to plan (unless it's a day when I decide to have no plan). I usually feel best when accomplishing things, ticking things off various lists - both on paper and mentally/internally. Today was and wasn't like that.

My alarm went off around 6:30 am, early enough to take myself to the chiropractor and make it to work for 8:30 am. However, I felt too tired to get up, and spent a while longer in bed, hovering between sleep and awakeness (is that even a word?), with the alarm going off every few minutes (too tired to actually re-set it, which is something I would normally do in this situation). The knowledge that I could go to chiro later in the day meant less incentive to stop the snooze button fest.
So not exactly what would I call the beginning of a good day. Yet looking back, I am amazed at how little that actually affected me- I didn't actually remember about this 'failure' until now. Lots of things made me smile and feel good as the day progressed:

--- The train I took was nearly empty, which was totally unexpected and very fun (I got to sit down and read!); I also tried a different route, which involved a short bus ride and 4 train stops instead of a longer bus ride and 2 train stops - just for variety and because...

--- I got a coffee on my way to work (the actual reason for the route alteration was to have enough time to step into Second Cup!) and really really really enjoyed. That was another surprise, as I had thought that I'd actually need a coffee in order to stay awake. It became a treat instead.

--- Work was quite good. To be honest, I'm kind of bored with my job (library) and fed up with the place I work at, so sometimes it's hard to maintain a positive attitude. Today brought one of the good things which sometimes happen at my job - a schedule change which totally makes your day. From time to time, there are also schedule changes which totally mess up your day, obviously, but this time luck was with me. I got sent to a different location, and...

--- Walking there gave me a chance to notice how beautiful the day was - sunny, clear blue sky, quite warm. I also got to have very little to do for over an hour, and spent that time reading some blogs and emailing to my Sunshine. And I came up with something of a plan for the rest of the day: readings, groceries, pick up books, chiro, a bit of cleaning, workout, phone (not necessarily in that order)

--- I had not been able to take my break, so got to leave early instead. I left the library but stayed in the building to have lunch (cucumber and Havarti cheese sandwich, peach yoghurt, grapes - delish!). However, the greatest part was that I felt very comfortable in that spot and pulled the readings out of my bag even before I finished eating and...

--- Stayed seated on that bench for a while. Totally enjoyed the time spent on course work, aka readings. I'm starting to get some ideas for one of my essays and am looking forward to working on it (yay!). This was wonderful because recently I've often had to make myself do school work - and didn't always succeed in that.

--- In the end, I left because the area started getting noisy. I was reading a couple of chapters which had really drawn me in, which made it easy to drown out all the comings and goings and chats and mobile phone rings. I knew that the next reading wouldn't be as exciting, and didn't want to stay somewhere where all the distractions would make productivity next to impossible (for a history student, 'productivity' is very much about how many pages you get through in a given amount of time - and thus whether you have to go back to them later on because you don't remember anything). I had a vague idea of what needed to be taken care of during the afternoon, but not quite a plan so...

--- I just went with the flow and adjusted the pattern as I went. At the end of the day I had completed everything but one phone call (which was better saved for the next day anyway).

--- The weather was so beautiful! I picked up the books, then decided to head home, so that I could do my workout outside. I was a bit early for the bus, so I decided to walk ahead and catch it at one of the further stops. This led to a pleasant stroll through one of my favourite neighbourhoods, so lovely.

--- Pleasant surprises awaited at home: I pulled an important document out of the mailbox and found a FedEx notice on the doorknob. I had been waiting for the document rather anxiously and worried that it would not get here on time, so yay! And the FedEx note was for the delivery of something that I had ordered just a few days ago -- and didn't expect to receive until the end of the month. Add to that a post office notice (another super important document) which arrived the day before and you get my joy!

--- I changed into workout gear and headed outside. The workout was great, and I dropped by the post office on the way back. Having all these papers in my hand makes me feel so much more calm about everything!

--- Later on there was a delicious salad, using my standard recipe, but with the first ever addition of avocado (turned out very yummy!), another pleasant walk through a nice neighbourhood on my way to chiro and a visit to the grocery store. I finished the day with a face mask and a mini-clean in the bathroom, feeling happy, rested and fulfilled.

Why was this day so great?
Well, the beautiful weather and sunshine certainly made a mark, but I'm quite positive that the main reason was something else: For the first time in a couple of weeks, I had had enough sleep - both in terms of quality and quantity. And that made the world of difference to how I was feeling and how I approached the day.

Recently I've been sleeping really badly, and it has greatly affected not just my productivity, but also my mood. My sleep pattern was something like 5-7-12-6-5.5-11-6 hours. No wonder I couldn't quite function... Today was a wonderful change after having been feeling tired, irritable and frustrated for so long.

This is not the first time that I will be making this promise to myself. But I really want to make sleep more of a priority. Make it eight. Get those eight hours each night. It will be a crusade, but I will persist!

The timing is very bad for making this kind of decision - the end of the semester is around the corner, and I have lots and lots of essay writing to do. I know that within a couple of weeks, I will feel that sleep is a waste of time. But I also know how beneficial it will be to get enough sleep. Wish me luck! :)