Under Pressure
Entry posted by docoflove1974
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This week has been utterly brutal. Actually, the last few weeks have, and it wasn't until Thursday that it all came to a head.
I teach an 8am class 3 days a week, on a campus that's 25 miles away. For us 'round here, well, that's not much of a commute, and I really don't view it as being far away. But an 8am class, that means I need to be on campus by 7:30 to get last minute stuff done, which means I have to leave the house no later than 6:45. Originally I thought I had to leave the house at 6:30, but the traffic hasn't been horrific, so I've been leaving later. But I was still waking up at 5:30, simply because I move about as fast in the morning as molasses on a frozen wintry day.
Well, this wasn't working. It's very hard for me to fall asleep before 11:30 (and I really do prefer 12 or so) unless I'm either sick or exhausted. So I was really only getting 6 hours of sleep or less, and while this doesn't sound like a bad thing, with all the running around I was doing, I was getting very tired. Mt. Grading Pile was getting harder and harder to tackle simply because I was having less and less time during the day to get things done, and more and more meetings were being requested. It's great to be wanted and all, but this was getting ridiculous. To make matters worse, my weekends were being filled up with plans to meet up with family and friends; the time I usually take to leisurely grade and prep for the week was being compacted into the space of a few hours during my two days off. I was not a happy Sarah.
When I'm stressed I do one of two things (and sometimes both): I either eat junk and processed foods, or I don't go into REM sleep and therefore wake up anything but refreshed. I can fall asleep, but don't seem to get a good night's sleep; I don't think I toss and turn, but who knows. Well, the last couple of weeks I've been doing the bad-sleep routine, and as a result would hit the snooze alarm 4 and 5 times before I could get myself to turn off the alarm...please, just 8 more minutes...please.... Monday-thru-Thursday I didn't wake up on time once...in fact, twice instead of hitting snooze, I accidentally turned the alarm off totally. Thankfully I caught it; once I only slept 15 minutes before Bella decided to wake me up for good, and the other time, while I slept an entire hour more, I had the time in my schedule to do so. As a result of waking up late all those days, I felt like the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz:" discombobulated. Nothing was working right, and because I was so tired I kept forgetting things, which is highly unlike me. Clearly this 5:30 crap isn't working. My body doesn't function at all.
So, time for a change: Friday I decided I'd set the alarm for 6. Ok, 30 minutes doesn't sound like much, but if I don't have to leave the apartment before 6:45, well, I can get ready in 45 minutes. And it was a kind of magic! Friday I was refreshed...the day went better...and I didn't feel like falling down like a pile of bricks at the end of the day. (I would have done the once-usual of going out for dinner and go to a movie, but since I had eaten both breakfast and lunch 'out', well, it was time to stay home with a salad and my copy of "The Princess Bride.") So, the routine has been changed...and there's a weight that's been lifted from my shoulders.
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