I ordered a mattress topper... I hope it arrives soon. ready to try sleeping on the couch just to see if changing my surroundings does anything if I can't sleep AGAIN tonight
i keep a lil list of reminders and things for myself, it has my Treats and Things to Do to keep earning my treats, like im a 5 year old in a classroom but it does work
II will say I have considered myself a night owl for a LONG time but I've recently started going to bed at 11/waking up at 7 and I feel like that (with like 20 mins of yoga a day) has completely changed my energy levels
WAKING UP AT 7 WHEEZES you are so strong...... i keep being so exhausted I can't get up until 10 or 11 even if I go to bed at midnight. so I think I must be getting bad sleep?? you're right it's better to have a more consistent schedule though :T I really struggle with that
i try to be really good about not gaming past 11:30 myself and that gives me about a half hour to wind down and get ready for bed / fall asleep, which usually works for me?
oh yeah reading in bed is a good thing if you have a hard time falling asleep... i tend to just scroll tumblr or something for 10-15 mins and then pass out but everyone's brains are different wrt winding down for sleep i feel like
i personally tag in bed bc it feels like journaling to me but is still something engaging (and productive) that my brain gets to do, but yeah....also, i think if you're losing track of time its rly important to start like. setting regular alarms to keep you on track
i actually have Shame Lights, which is all the smart lights in my living room turn off at a set time and it plunges me into darkness....telling me its time for bed. but an alarm works just as well lmao
obviously work and life stress impacts a lot as well but... those things we can't always control so at least sleep, food, is stuff you can take control of
to be clear I've only been playing game at night for about a week and I rarely do so otherwise
i've just been cranky about not being in the mood for anything else so indulging. usually I try to go to bed around midnight, play my little nyt games with my phone on nighttime setting, and listen to podcast
how do you.... actually pay attention to them...... whenever i have alarms for things i either snooze them, get mad and aggressively want to do something else, or don't notice
sorry I know this sounds like rejecting your advice, that's not what i mean to do, i just mean like i've tried doing these things without success so I'm wondering how to approach it differently
I've started chanting outloud "this does not behoove you" when I'm doing something I know I shouldn't, like procrastinating or indulging in brain drain on social media
I truly buy into this theory I read that because modern life is (relatively) so much easier than before the brain invents problems because it doesn't need to focus on surviving
LMAO yeah i was gonna say like. at a certain point you just have to literally do the thing...or like. search for techniques/help on how to Do The Thing bc at the end of the day the only one who can do the thing is. you. as terrible as that is.
i cannot speak for other ppl, its just literally a case of training the brain for me, but i know everyone is different and needs different things to get on track
that said, if ur just not a list/alarm person bc it tells you what to do, maybe like. accomplishment-focused list, which is the opposite of a to-do list (its a "i have done this" list). so when u do a Thing, you write it down. and maybe you get a little Treat if you do enough things. like filling out a quest book.
ᴡᴏʟғ.
: yeah unfortunately the only one who can do it is me and that's terrible!!
HMMMM writing a thing down after I do it is a good idea actually it's how I tricked myself into using a planner (I just don't actually. plan in it. I just use it as a journal mostly after the fact)
I think part of the struggle with work is that it's all emails and task lists all the time non-stop. I can never feel like I completed something because it's always new things all the time. so I've been feeling just
tbh i do dumb tricks, like, i mark certain tags in my inbox as "read" just so my inbox doesn't look so big, and then i narrow down like. what i actually want to accomplish JUST in that hour/day. instead of staring at the endless void of things to do
and then i unmark them bit...by bit....and it does help, like just visually seeing the number of things i have to do go down (even if it didn't REALLY go down)
I do have automatic filters set up for rp and sometimes I snooze things for that reason. with work unfortunately it's just not possible to keep everything that separate. the fact is we simply need more people but... laughs in capitalism
I'm trying to clear out as much as I can this week. it's piled up SO MUCH since I was basically working on con stuff only for about a month. so now it's... a months worth of catch-up plus all the stuff that comes in regularly anyway, it's a nightmare
anyway this is just getting into the usual work complain SIGH
I'll try... making some changes where I can. I wish I was more inclined to wanting structure instead of being a natural chaos gremlin but I must. force it.
I also FINALLY signed up for personal training (sort of, it's small groups but they said it's usually like 2-3 people and it's still pretty individualized) SO that'll force me to be consistent at least for one thing
I used to use this, formerly Habit RPG, idk if it's still any good (I also don't know if the mobile and desktop versions sync) but like, you leveled up you character as you accomplished tasks with like habits/dailies/to-do
lmao i sent a bunch of very annoyed emails to my boss about how i simply cannot do all the things that need to be done and we don't have enough resources to accomplish whatever goals he wants for next year
they want us to produce more and more stuff and increase our output while not actually providing any support????? how the fuck does that even work, bro
i used it for a long while and i should get back into it honestly. not only is it good for solo, you can add real life friends and tackle "boss fights" together
i used to use that with friends when we'd do spring cleaning, and it definitely helped ease the pain of doing a cleaning marathon just because it was like "no i must do more damage to the boss"
to be fair to you, the whole 9-5 thing with work puts a lot of expectation on when Everyone should go to bed but like... circadian rhythms don't work that way?
I am SO glad not to have a job where I have to wake up early consistently though thank fuck. I have done that before and got so little sleep and it was awful
ɥɔʇɐɹɔs ˙ɹɯ
: it is helping and also cute... I bought a small one and kinda wish I got a bigger one tho HAHA. maybe I'll end up with another if I use it though. seems kinda a pain to wash tho since you have to air dry it
I'm TRYING to be more consistent about waking up at my earliest tolerable time of about 9 because I don't actually like getting home at 8pm but it also takes me an hour+ to fall asleep so
i will say that since getting a sunrise alarm clock that also has a sunset function to help wind down it's made a huge difference in me being able to fall asleep, i have it set to 45 minutes where it starts at full light and gradually gets darker until turning off
i usually read for about 20-30 minutes but by the time the light turns off i'm usually asleep which is a miracle since i also usually just roll around for an hour thinking about how i'm not sleeping
𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚
: yes! we got one of those fairly recently and I love the wind down sunset function. the sunrise is useless and doesn't wake me up even a little bit but the sunset has made the go to bed routine better for sure
I like playing a crossword until I get sleepy but then I have to put on a podcast because if I am in silence I wake up again because the Thoughts come lol
anything
except lie on the floor or wander around outside like a stray cat
you have to KEEP DOING IT
i've just been cranky about not being in the mood for anything else so indulging. usually I try to go to bed around midnight, play my little nyt games with my phone on nighttime setting, and listen to podcast
i don't like being told what to do EVEN WHEN I, MYSELF, TELL MYSELF TO DO IT
HMMMM writing a thing down after I do it is a good idea actually it's how I tricked myself into using a planner (I just don't actually. plan in it. I just use it as a journal mostly after the fact)
I can try to hit just uh some highlights I guess
inundated
I'll try... making some changes where I can. I wish I was more inclined to wanting structure instead of being a natural chaos gremlin but I must. force it.
if it takes me all night at least I'll be free tomorrow with a normal task list
I used to use this, formerly Habit RPG, idk if it's still any good (I also don't know if the mobile and desktop versions sync) but like, you leveled up you character as you accomplished tasks with like habits/dailies/to-do
I did so much work
tomorrow I'll try to tag
and I even went Outside to see the Sun this morning :T
I'm returning it....
did some journaling. had a nutritious lunch. going for a walk now. doing my best with what I've got
"the mental health" I think. plus the bed but I am going to think about how to address that soon :T
if I decide to change jobs down the line, being able to wfh and set my own hours a majority of the time will be non negotiable