The Latest Energy Secret!

SLEEP!

Who knew?

I'm serious.

So, last Friday, I taught a sermon on resting, and how important it is, and WHY WE NEED TO DO IT.

I also realized that I had NOT been managing what I referred to in my sermon as "energy pennies" well. (I used actual pennies as a visual metaphor. It worked well!)

I was still recovering from my illness (phlegm), and looking ahead to this week, I anticipated a hard week, capped by a difficult weekend. (The funeral). I decided to practice what I preach, and manage my energy pennies better.

I've been going to sleep a lot earlier (not hard to do when you've been averaging midnight!), and taking naps every day. They range from 20 minutes (Monday between jobs) to an hour (Tuesday and Wednesday).

It means I don't have as much time at my disposal as I'm used to. But there's something weird happening.

I'm ... I'm getting less tired. Today is the first day I've noticed I'm actually LESS tired (and I started my new sleeping routine Sunday night with a shocking 7:30 bedtime!), and it's weird.

The first difference I noticed was Tuesday morning, and the difference was: I was really, really tired. It's like before, I knew I was tired, but Tuesday I suddenly had the capacity to comprehend I had been running on exhausted for a long, long, LONG time.

I was angry at myself, and angry that I was so tired, and angry that I hadn't even realized what I had been doing.

After I woke up from my nap, I biked to work. And I realized something ... Biking was a LOT easier. I didn't hate it *quite* as much. I certainly didn't dread it. And there were moments, biking along very, VERY slowly, that I actually enjoyed.

I realized this was simply because I was more rested. I had energy pennies to spend on biking to work, and enough pennies to spare that biking didn't leave me with a big deficit.

This morning, I woke up ON MY OWN a bit before 7. I went to the bank, and went to Winco. I had the idea of getting ingredients for calzones at Winco that I could make and freeze since Shani and I are going to be quite busy over the next bit. I came home, put away the groceries, emptied the dishdrainer, and went bck to my room to read my Bible before I realized I had even done all that.

I have been SO tired lately, that even the thought of doing something was draining and exhausted me. For the first time in WEEKS, since at least Christmas break, I had done some work on my own, without forcing myself to.

I hadn't even realized I had been forcing myself to work.

I had enough strength to wash the dishes (there weren't many), make six calzones with different ingredients, freeze them, and clean up after myself. It wasn't a burden. It wasn't a chore. It was work, but I did it.

It made me a little tired, so I sat down and rested.

I had been resting every Wednesday, partly because I knew I needed rest, but also because I was too tired to do anything else. I was wondering why my resting on Wednesday strategy wasn't working.

I was just too tired.

I come from a family of "I can'ts." Now, talking to them, you wouldn't think so, because all they say is, "Sure. I'll do that. I can do that. I'll make it work. Whatever it takes." But I've been realizing that behind all those "I can" are lots of great, big, HUGE "I can't" statements.

"I can't take a break."
"I can't rest."
"I can't sleep that much."
"I can't, I'm too [busy, stressed, too much work, etc. etc. etc.]"

I'm not sure what led to these huge "I can't" statements, but they're very present. It wasn't until I moved in with Shani that I realized that "I can" was even an option. Now I've learned to look for them, and to practice what works best.

It took Shani several years of staring me down, and kicking me in the shins for me to realize I actually worked better after getting a little rest. (Hence my resting on Wednesdays). It also trained me to check the results of reality against the results I thought I was getting, and to be willing to experiment a little with myself.

Guys, this sleeping thing is AWESOME. I'm realizing that I am way, way, WAY behind in sleep. I think it will take two weeks of consistent sleeping INCLUDING the extra naps to get me to a balance of healthy. (I want to say "normal," but normal is sleep-deprived running on drugs like sugar, caffeine and adrenaline.) I'm already noticing benefits in my thinking; my thoughts are clearer, more in control, and way more emotionally balanced (thank God!). The energy benefits of being able to ride my bike, and do a simple chore like cooking (it took a couple hours, so "simple" might be stretching it) are shocking. The fact that I'm not having to spend energy to force myself to do stuff is INCREDIBLE.

Please, I beg of you, try this out. It took three days of lots of night sleep PLUS naps for me to notice a difference. I'm expecting it will take a week for me to really hit my stride, and two weeks to be healthy.

Try sleeping eight hours a night for a week. Just TRY it. Yes, you have to give up things (I'm giving up movies, video games and Shani time for these bedtimes!), you have to set aside the fantasy of productivity to sleep. (I'm realizing how much of a fantasy it was. I wasn't doing anything, I was just thinking about all the things I SHOULD be doing and how TIRED I was!)

Please, please, PLEASE try it for a week. See how you feel.

I think that will make a better argument than anything I could say.

Replace all those "I can'ts" with "I can."

Trust me. You're worth way more than a few hours. <3