Better Sleep Checkup

So, last month, I shared my Action Plan for Better Sleep and I figured it was time to check in and let people know how it went.

For starters, I deviated from the plan almost immediately.  Not with the media ban (which we managed to keep up for a full month) and not with my sleep plan visualizations and such, but I added something to it, which makes it difficult to know if the presence of media was part of the problem or not.  But, more on that later. 

Over the course of the month I am very happy to report that I did not have to relocate to the living room and didn’t have any nights where hours were spent trying to fall asleep.  Not that I didn’t sometimes still have difficulty falling asleep.  And I still had many nights where I woke up part way through the night, though I managed to fall back asleep when that happened.

A few nights into the month, I decided to start using earplugs as well.  I was finding that it was the sound of snoring was still bothering me.*  When I used earplugs, it was dampened enough not to keep me awake.  At first I used some foam ones, but they were aggravating as I have oddly shaped ears and it was taking a long time to get them in properly (like 20 minutes of fiddling!).  Then I got some wax ones that you warm with your hands and shape into your ears and they worked better.  But I’m still getting used to them.  I don’t like wearing them.  But, my fondness for sleep is stronger than my dislike of them, so I guess I’m going to have to get used to it.

Now that the media ban is lifted, we’re slowly introducing media back in.  We started with some music, which is fine.  I’m sure I’ll also start reading in bed again, when I’m back to reading books instead of listening to audio books (just going through a phase right now).  And, I’m sure sooner or later we’ll put on a movie before we go to sleep.  The key now is going to be to see if the sleep problems return or not.  I’m hoping not.

But, even though I got more sleep than I was getting before, I’m still not getting enough sleep to feel truly rested.  My biggest enemy to sleep is myself.  I stay up too late and am so busy with plans that it becomes almost impossible for me to get everything done and get enough sleep.  I’m working on getting to bed earlier but I’m not sure how much of my social life I’ll want to sacrifice right now.  With the work schedules of our friends, getting together earlier in the day just won’t work.  So, I’ll have to see if I can manage it some other way.

So that’s where I stand for now (or should that be ‘sleep’?)  I’ll try to keep updating as things progress.  If anyone has any tips, tricks, or advice, feel free to comment away!

 

*And I just had a revelation the other night that when L sleeps facing towards me, it’s much more difficult to fall asleep because the snoring is louder :(

Writing Date Results

Ok, so I set up the challenge last week to spend the entire day Monday writing, and here’s how it went . . .

• Was busy on the weekend getting some things done so that they wouldn’t bother me when I was supposed to be writing.  Resulted in two loads of laundry being clean, but unfolded and most other things taken care of.  I can live with that.  (A truth which is well demonstrated by the fact that I’m sitting here blogging, instead of folding laundry.)
• Started around 9:00am.
• Didn’t feel like working out when I got up, and didn’t end up doing much exercise :(
• The phone did not ring once, all day.
• That was kind of disappointing because I was looking forward to ignoring the phone.  I find it liberating to not answer the phone.  Go figure.  I’m odd like that.
• Aside from a break or two for food and hydration, I spent almost 12 hours working on my manuscript.
• When I say ‘working on my manuscript’ I was, more specifically, figuring out what was going to happen in each scene of the novel, and what was important about each one.
• I didn’t take a break to do any laundry.
• But my husband did.
• I didn’t take a break to change it from the washer to the dryer, even when it had been sitting in the washer for a few hours.
• I realized that I need to create not one, but two, TWO more maps for my story.
• I planned out 20 scenes in total on Monday.
• I will probably end up shuffling the order or changing the content for some of the scenes.
• I stopped when I reached my goal for January.  It was just after 9:00pm.
• The book is not yet completely plotted.
• But I’m close.

Overall, it was a very good experience to immerse myself into the novel again.  I think I might be brave enough to set more writing dates in the future.  But I’m not sure exactly when, but I’ll let you know.  For now I’ve got 3 loads of laundry to fold and put away, several stacks of dishes to wash, and 2 chapters to read before class tomorrow.

Better Sleep Action Plan

I had originally thought to write this post titled as “Insomnia Action Plan” but thought that it really set the wrong tone for my intention.  My intention isn’t to devise a plan for insomnia, my intention is to devise a plan for better sleep. 

This week, like many others before it, I’ve been having difficulty in getting a full night’s sleep.  It’s a problem I’ve dealt with on and off for years, but lately it’s been intensifying.  In the past, I’d go through short periods where it almost felt as though my body needed to reset.  I’d have a night or maybe two, where despite my best intentions, sleep would evade me.  Then I’d be fine and not encounter it again for months.  Now, it’s getting to be a problem that crops up several times each month.

So, L and I have finally had enough of it and are going to try to change things up.  So, my better sleep action plan is borne. 

The first thing we are trying is a media ban in the bedroom.  When L suggested this, I was surprised.  He is the type of person that usually sleeps best with some sort of background noise – music or a movie.  So, we have a computer in our bedroom just for such purposes.  But, it’s going to remain silent for an entire month, while we test out the effectiveness of the media ban.  Books, since they are also media, are banned as well.

So, any DVD watching, any book reading, any music enjoying will be done in other rooms.  For the next 30 days, the bedroom is for sleep and sex. 

I also have another part of the plan, that just affects me.  I’ve got an action plan for how to handle difficulty falling asleep.  I won’t bore you with all the minute details, but I’ve got different stages mapped out that are complete with sleep positions, visualization techniques, etc.  I’m hoping that having a plan like this will help to stem the tide of frustration and help me to feel more relaxed when the problem does come up.

Last night was the first night of no media and my own action plan and I didn’t have any sleep problems.  I’m hoping it’s the start of a trend.

Happy New Year!

Ok, I know I'm a wee bit late on that one! But, I'll save you the explanations and get on with the post.

I had mentioned earlier that I was going to post about my New Year's Resolutions a bit more in detail, so here's that post.

First of all, I take a look at the changing of the year as an opportunity to stop and spend some time reflecting about my life. Which direction do I want to be headed in? How can I bring myself closer to the things I want out of life? What did I set out to do in the past year that I haven't done, and what have I managed to spend a lot of time on? What also helps is that I've done up a list of things that I would like to accomplish in my life. I think the current total is somewhere between 115 and 130, but I can't be sure. A lot of my "New Year's Resolutions" come off of that list too. These are things I've generally put a lot of thought into and are things I think would make my life better or more interesting.

I'll tell you right now that I don't manage to keep all my resolutions. Some of them are things that I would like to constantly improve upon. Others are things that once I achieve them, they're done. If I don't manage to do something, it isn't the end of the world, because this is not the one time of year that I do any goal setting or life evaluation. It just happens to be a time when many people are thinking about it, so I join in with them and get a little benefit for myself out of it.

This year, my resolution list looks like this . . .

1) Finish my CAIB designation.

I've done CAIB 2 and 3 and I really should just finish numbers 1 and 4 and be done with it. It is boring and tedious, but finishing it will be nice on the resume. Plus, while Lance is doing CGA courses it's a good time for me to be studying too. The next test writes in February and I'll be there (so long as the textbook finally gets here!).

2) Get my full driver's license.

I think this one is more daunting than all the studying. However, I also haven't been driving as much lately since Lance's work schedule changed a little bit so that he starts and finishes earlier in the day.

3) Run the Sun Run in less than an hour.

Last year I surprised the heck out of myself by finishing in 1h 4m. I thought I would be a full 10 minutes slower at least! This year, I'm pretty sure if I train diligently, I should be able to finish in under an hour. I'm just not sure whether I'll be using this site, or this one for the training schedule.

4) NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month

Every November a bunch of people as weird as I am set themselves the challenging task of writing a novel in one month. The goal is quantity and not quality. It builds up some writing skills and since writing is something I'd love to do professionally, I thought I'd give it a shot. I know it'll be crap, but at least it'll be a long piece of crap that I could improve upon.

5) Skydiving

Yes, I am going to jump out of a perfectly good airplane strapped to a person and a parachute. Lance even said that he would go skydiving with me, which is a big deal since the thought rather frightens him. The only thing that might interfere with this one is saving up the money for it since I'm also saving up for goal #6.

6) Buy a SmartPhone

I'd really like to upgrade my Palm Pilot. A cell phone makes sense for so many things in the future. So, it seems like it would be foolish not to get a combo deal. Only problem is that I'm not a phone person so I don't want a monthly contract. Besides, the monthly contract that I'd need to get in order to get the phone for cheap is insanely expensive because it's a voice and data plan. So, I have to save up for an $800 phone and then do the monthly pre-paid phone card thing. I think I'm going to go with Rogers because they have a $100 phone card that doesn't expire for a year. If I'm saving up $800, I may as well save an extra hundred for the phone card. Anyway, I have a savings plan in place so that I should be able to get it in the fall (or earlier depending on how quickly I save up those pennies, or how quickly the phone prices come down).

So there you have it. If you have some goals that you'd like to share, feel free to list them in the comments.

Tenants and Condos

Today I just wrote my 5th new personal lines file in two weeks. They've all been either tenants package or a condo package so they are pretty straightforward. I'm getting pretty darn good at starting up new client files now. Plus, I'm getting much better at remembering to ask all the important questions. Very important when you are creating a promise that could cost a company a million dollars!

Tonight is another holiday party that I'm looking forward to very much. There should be obscene amounts of food there and a lot of people to talk to and mingle with as well. The hockey game will undoubtably be on, but I haven't been following much hockey lately so I'm not sure how much I'll be paying attention to that.

Tomorrow will be another holiday party dedicated to making gingerbread houses! Yum-my! A bit more casual and definitely a smaller and more intimate affair. It should be fun too.

Then we should get a small bit of a breather before any other holiday festivities. Both Lance and I will need a bit of rest and re-charge time. Luckily, we only have one more present to purchase and 3 or 4 more presents to wrap for Christmas. The rest are sitting in a little pile in the corner. Plus, his next CGA course doesn't officially start until January and I have yet to track down the book for my next course (I may need to order a new copy). So the week really should be very restful.

Long Weekend Mindset

So, it's the long weekend. Yay! For me and Lance, this means 2 days off in a row!!! We are terribly excited and have already filled it up with plans. However, today is not one of those days off for us. I am sitting and typing this at work. To my right is a box full of letters that I should be working on. Behind one of the other desks is another box with even MORE letters that I should be working on. But, long weekend mindset has already set in and it's very hard to discipline myself to work right now.

This weekend, I'm very excited about the plans we've made. We are foregoing the family gathering at Harrison (we have rarely gone in the past, so it's not like we're breaking a tradition for us) and made some plans of our own. Tonight we are making use of a gift certificate for a local restaurant that was part of our new townhouse package. It's been a while since we went out on a date night, so I'm looking forward to it.

Tomorrow we are going to Science World! (I don't care how much Telus paid, I'm not calling it the Telus blah blah whatever - it's been Science World for over a decade and it's STILL Science World to me!) This weekend is the last weekend for a Lego exhibit that they've got going on. We are also going to treat ourselves with the Omnimax show and lunch at White Spot.

Monday we are heading down to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. I've been doing a bit of reading lately on digital photography and this should give me a chance to play with a few of the different camera settings I recently discovered.

Since neither of these activities will take the whole day, we'll probably spend some of the rest of the day on our garage. We are painting over the concrete and it needs a lot of prep work. Right now we are etching. Once we've finished that, we get to prime it. Then we'll be painting it. Luckily, we aren't worried about how the final product will really look, since it is just the garage. But, it is quite a bit of work and a new process for us, so we're learning as we go.