Tag Archives: schedules

Managing Insomnia

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It’s no secret. We the people of the United States of America, and other countries too, are sleep-deprived. Some people work too much. Others have brand new babies. Others just can’t fit it all in and would rather use the little free time they do have watching TV or surfing the net instead of getting those precious zzzz’s. Nobody is getting enough sleep. Including me.

Personally, even though I have ample time for it, I have trouble sleeping. I can’t fall asleep. Or I wake up in the middle of the night and I can’t fall back asleep. Or I toss and turn and never fall into that deep REM sleep that is so important. Maybe it’s my Type A personality. I’m a worry wart. Or maybe it’s just in my DNA. My mom has trouble sleeping too, although she says that nobody her age sleeps well. I have my fingers crossed that isn’t true.

I’m not yet 30 (although that date is rapidly approaching), but I’m doing what I can to manage this insomnia before it gets out of control.  So what does it take for this (non)Working Girl to get a good night’s sleep?

  • Don’t wear lipstick to bed like the beautiful lady in the picture above. OBVI.
  • Have a nightly ritual. I know this is pretty obvious, but your body knows when you’re getting ready for bed. For me it’s floss, brush teeth, wash face, apply night cream (okay I’m not doing this yet but I bought some today and I totally plan to – gotta stave off those wrinkles that are coming for me) and then STRAIGHT TO BED.

  • Make the bedroom a place to relax. An oasis if you will. A place where it feels natural to take some deep breaths and let your worries float away. Occasionally I’ll spray this Deep Sleep Dreamy Pillow and Body Mist around my bed and on my pillow. It is lovely and calming.

  • Keep the room dark and silent. I like it pitch black, so I try to cover excessive alarm clock light, windows, etc. In addition, this may appall some of you, but I sleep with earplugs every single night. I have for years. I like Mack’s Kids Size Silicon Earplugs because they are smaller and fit in my delicate flower ears.
  • Limit caffeine and sadly, alcohol. I know if I drink too much of either of these delicious substances, I won’t be able to sleep. Sometimes a nice glass of wine or three is worth the lack of sleep, but not always.
  • If I do wake up in the middle of the night and can’t stop my mind from racing, I make mental lists. I find that I typically worry about the same things over and over so I pick one problem, focus on it and choose a course of action for the next day. Then, when my mind comes back to that problem, I know I’ve already got a solution in place, so I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
  • GET OVER IT. Some nights, I’ll have trouble sleeping. And I just have to accept that. I know I might be a little fatigued the next day, but worrying about how I can’t sleep isn’t going to make things any better. Usually it just makes it worse. So I put on my big girl panties and just get over it and enjoy the extra time I’m awake. I read. I pet the dog. I think up new blog posts. And the next night, I’m sure to sleep like a baby.

How Not to be a Vampire

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Being unemployed, or even having the ability to work from home, or being a professional blogger, or a stay-at-home mom has its perks doesn’t it? Or that’s the perception anyway, that just because you don’t have to get up and trek into an office, you’re living a life of pure relaxation.

Want to stay in your pajamas all day? Go for it.

Have leftover cold pizza at 9:30 in the morning? No one’s watching.

Watch the Today Show while that conference call is on mute? We’ll never tell.

Yes, there are countless wonderful things about being able to stay at home all day, but not having a daily destination can often create more trouble than you might think.

For me, it’s about the lack of social interaction. Yes, I spend a lot of time interacting with people on the Web and through email and Twitter, but even with all of this technology at our fingertips, nothing beats face-to-face interaction. And if you’re cooped up inside your house all day, it’s easier than you think to get cabin fever. Here’s how I keep from going crazy:

  • Take a short walk around the neighborhood. Typically I do this under the auspices of walking Saucer, but sometimes I just go it alone.  Okay that’s not true I never go it alone.  But the dog needs his exercise, and I need my Vitamin D. Even if you are the pajama blogger type, a little fresh air and sunshine never hurt anyone. Try not to be such a vampire.
  • Space out your errands. If you are a bad-ass housewife 2.0 such as myself, you know how it important it is to have a house fully stocked with groceries so you can make some strange dessert concoctions and what not. So take a trip to the grocery store one day, and then take your clothes to the dry cleaner the next. Devise little ways to get yourself out of the house and into the world, even if it is just to make small talk with the stoner behind the deli counter.
  • Go chill at a coffee shop. If it’s got free WiFi, it’s bound to be a haven for other home bound types such as yourself. And even though you’re probably all sitting there with headphones on staring at laptop screens just like you’d be doing at home, at least you’re around other people. You don’t ACTUALLY have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to
  • Try and keep your friends. I know it’s hard to resist the desire to just hole up forever and watch reruns of 90210 on SoapNet, but it pays to make an effort. Call someone. See if they want to go to lunch. Even if they have a day job they can probably still go to lunch. If you’re trying to conserve money, invite someone over for lunch. It’ll give you an excuse to take a shower.
  • Which brings me to my final point. Take a shower. Every day. It doesn’t have to be first thing in the morning. But it does need to happen. Because if you don’t, you won’t want to go out of the house, and one thing will lead to another, and then all of a sudden you’ll have your neighbors calling asking if a cat died in your attic.

Scheduling Motivation

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My sister told me the other day that I’ve “gotten too used to being able to do whatever [I] want all the time.”

At first I thought, well isn’t that entire point of life? Just to be able to do whatever you want? That sounds awesome! So does that mean that I’m awesome? Why yes, I guess it does!

But in reality, it’s not like I can do WHATEVER I want. There’s not jetting off to France for a week of wine drinking in the world’s best vineyards. Sigh.

But it is awesome in the sense that I can create my own schedule. I CHOOSE when to do things. Anything I want (within reason of course). Whenever I want.

That doesn’t mean I’m free from all responsibility. It doesn’t mean I still don’t have to do things I don’t want to. But I do have more flexibility in choosing when to do those things.

Sometimes though, I think that flexibility can lead to stagnation. It’s hard to get motivated to do the laundry, or water the lawn, when there is always time to do it later. I could start that load of whites now, or I could start it later. I could turn on the sprinkler now, or I could do it later.

That’s why I find that even though I have what might appear to be oodles of free time, for those of us that are unemployed, it still helps to be on some sort of a schedule. It doesn’t necessarily have to be anything rigid, but having a schedule will help give a sense of structure to your day, and it will help you feel a sense of accomplishment.

You might want to use a calendar to help you organize your schedule. A day timer is nice, or you can be all crazy awesome at technology like I am and use Google Calendar.

The first step is to establish a good sleeping pattern. I realize that it may be tempting to sleep in until all hours of the day and then stay up late (just because you can!) but you are a grown up, and it’s time to get on a good, normal sleeping pattern. Try to get at least 8 hours a night, because that’s going to help you be your best, and you want to be your best don’t you? For me, I find that 9 hours is optimal, and I usually sleep from about 11 or 11:30 until 8 a.m. or so. You might find you operate better sleeping from 12 to 9, or 10 to 6, or even 1 to 10. Just find what works best for you.

After you’ve established your normal sleeping pattern, try to find the periods of the day in which you are the most productive. This is no different for those of you that are employed, so perk those ears up if you’ve been nodding off during most of this post (maybe time to evaluate your sleeping habits, no?).  I find that I am most productive during my first hours of waking, so I try to schedule chores, errands, job-searching, and any other activity that requires a higher level of motivation (read: things I don’t really want to do but have to) during my morning hours, leaving the afternoon for more leisurely activities such as reading, writing, etc.

Now that you have a basic routine to your day down, it’s time to look at the bigger picture. For me, a large job search Web site that I follow here in Denver comes out every Monday, so I dedicate a good chunk of Monday to researching companies, drafting cover letters, and sending out resumes. When it comes to the more mundane tasks of daily life, I try to schedule them into my calendar so they don’t get put off and build up.

Sheets need to be washed once a week no? So let’s add that to the calendar, how about every Thursday? Floors should be vacuumed at least every two weeks, how about on Friday mornings? If it’s housework your focused on, take a look at Flylady.com, she’s got a very helpful calendar for almost any type of housework you can think of.

After I’ve scheduled necessary tasks into my week, I find time for the things I WANT to do. For me, this includes writing, which I’m trying to do on a regular basis. However, I find that if I don’t make time for my writing and actually insert it into my schedule, the stuff of daily life can often come up and trump that time I thought I might spend on it. You might not think you need to block off two hours on your calendar to do things you WANT to do, but trust me, if you don’t, something else will come up . So schedule the time to go to the gym, to work on that craft project, or even just to take that bath. Calgon anyone?Because even though you can do “whatever you want, whenever you want,” sometimes life just gets in the way.

So does unemployment mean footloose and fancy free? Sometimes, yes. But working off a calendar can help you stay motivated and productive, and the sense of accomplishment you’ll feel after crossing those items off of your to-do list will reduce any guilt you might feel when it comes time to just veg out in front of the TV for a little while.