Lizz Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I am coming out of hiding again. Things seem to have gotten out of hand for me mentally, and this weeks articel truly made me relook at my priorities. I am trying to do so many things that are ongoing, being in Afghanistan, going to school online, searching for a new job which includes late night Skype interviews. Trying to get back to truly being fit seems to be impossible to do. I realised that my biggest issue is time management, and truly sleep management. I am going to bed late, waking up at the last moment for work, and doing school in stolen minutes that make me feel overwhelmed and rushed. So this is what I have decided to do: I will reset my sleep schedule so that I wake up at 0530 in the morning. In order to achieve this I will get up no matter how groggy I am, this will have me feeling tired at night and going to sleep at an earlier hour than midnight. Second, I will cut out caffine after lunch, and limit caffine intake to tea and coffee. Third, I will start laying out my clothes at night, and prepping my French Press at night. I used to get up early for school work, and I am wanting to return to that schedule in order to feel like I have time for working out etc with my 6 day aweek schedule. So my fellow rebels, do you have any more advice? Please do not suggest products, or supplements, as the mail takes FOREVER to get here. 3 Quote Link to comment
Lizz Posted February 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 Ugh, waking up earlier is difficult to do. Didn't quite make my time this morning. How do you all sqring out of bed in the morning? Quote Link to comment
pureleeawesome Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I'm blessed that I've always been a morning person, plus my job starts at 5am, which means I have to get up early.You seem to be on the right track with having everything set up before you wake up. The only other suggestion I can think of is to set your alarm away from your bed, so that you have to get out of bed to turn it off.I find that once I'm out of bed, I can motivate myself to stay out of bed most days. 2 Quote Level 1 Adventurer Quest for Adventure Took the road less traveled. Now lost. Link to comment
Lizz Posted February 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Unfortunatly, I live in a tent with others. So I try to keep my alarm close to be considerate. Since tomorrow starts the next six week challenge, I was toying with the idea of doing htis for my challenge. 1 Quote Link to comment
Lizz Posted February 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 Sucess! Not quite jumping out of bed, but I did not roll over and go back to sleep. 1 Quote Link to comment
insanity Posted February 24, 2014 Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 Ugh, waking up earlier is difficult to do. Didn't quite make my time this morning. How do you all sqring out of bed in the morning?No caffeine, no alcohol, plenty of sleep... After going paleo 2 years ago, I allowed myself redbulls since I couldn't see myself surviving school and work, both full time, without em. About a month and a half ago, I decided to try and go 30 days, 100% paleo...which meant no alcohol or caffeine. It's now two months later and I have much more energy throughout the day despite no redbulls, coffee, nothing and working close to 70 hours a week. After going through that, I picked up some of my favorite drink, and drinking a couple of those will make it harder to get up in the morning, so that's now a weekend deal for me. The plenty of sleep part still escapes me, right now I'm running about about 5-6 hours a night... 2 outta 3 ain't bad. Quote "Insanity - you make my world a better place man, you really do! That shit is awesome! :D" - Guzzi- My first challenge My battle Log: Insanity: Warrior Monk Honorary Ranger dubbed by DarK_RaideR, 1000 Pound club (875 of 1000) Link to comment
Lizz Posted February 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 Alcohol is not allowed, but I really don't want to give up my coffee... Quote Link to comment
insanity Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 Alcohol is not allowed, but I really don't want to give up my coffee...What about Decaf? Quote "Insanity - you make my world a better place man, you really do! That shit is awesome! :D" - Guzzi- My first challenge My battle Log: Insanity: Warrior Monk Honorary Ranger dubbed by DarK_RaideR, 1000 Pound club (875 of 1000) Link to comment
Lizz Posted March 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 I only drink coffee first thing in the morning. Some days it is more necessary than others, not the best sleeping accomidations. Quote Link to comment
Lizz Posted March 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Past two mornings I am back on schedule! Getting through final exams and another semester starting. 1 Quote Link to comment
Lizz Posted March 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 Past few mornings having trouble getting up, and even more falling asleep. Although we have had some serious stressors here too... What do you all do to relax in the evening after high stress? Quote Link to comment
insanity Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 Past few mornings having trouble getting up, and even more falling asleep. Although we have had some serious stressors here too... What do you all do to relax in the evening after high stress?If it's been a really bad day... Grab a cup of tea, decaf, get rid of as much light and sound as you can, and just sit in the quiet dark sipping your tea. If you can't get away from sound, then headphones with your choice of music and close your eyes. 2 Quote "Insanity - you make my world a better place man, you really do! That shit is awesome! :D" - Guzzi- My first challenge My battle Log: Insanity: Warrior Monk Honorary Ranger dubbed by DarK_RaideR, 1000 Pound club (875 of 1000) Link to comment
Lizz Posted March 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 Thank you, Insanity. I need to add more relaxing music to my collection. Quote Link to comment
aishahhope Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 I try my best to follow routines that I know I can handle. I have crippling fatigue. I know from experience that although I can get up early (5:30-7:30am) daily, it is not something that is good for my body. When I get up that early, I cannot survive without tons of coffee and energy drinks. I need to leave myself at least 8-9 hours to (try to) sleep and I can't go to bed early enough to make that happen. I'm not saying getting up early is bad, but what have been your routines at times in your life when you've had the most energy and felt the best? I have a nasty habit of trying to do certain things (like get up early and get a lot done in the morning) because I feel like I "should," and I know it can be an easy trap to fall into. On the other hand, for some people that IS the best way to go about things Another thing I've found helpful is to try and spend a bit of time alarm clock-less if I can just to see where my body naturally gravitates in terms of wake-up times, and count back from there. Lately it's been a wake-up of 9-11am, so a bedtime of 12-2am. I can make this happen without drinking coffee during the day, although sometimes I find it a nice boost in the morning because I am almost always groggy and in pain upon waking, regardless of how healthy my sleep and other habits are. I used to go to school and work full time or more than full time. I know commitments and responsibilities can make this kind of work (letting your body naturally do its thing and follow its own rhythms) really hard. At the same time, for me, it's been worth it to the point that I've given up things like finishing graduate school, I've changed jobs, etc. just because I was so sick of being exhausted and burned out all the time from not having a sleep schedule that nourished me. Sometimes it can require a little ruthlessness in other areas of life. Quote Hope LEVEL 0 | DEEP DWARF | ADVENTURER STR 0 | DEX 0 | STA 0 | CON 0 | WIS 0 | CHA 0 Backstory | Facebook || Challenges: "Certainty of death...small chance of success...what are we waiting for?" - Gimli Link to comment
aishahhope Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 Past few mornings having trouble getting up, and even more falling asleep. Although we have had some serious stressors here too... What do you all do to relax in the evening after high stress? Nothing has helped me as much as trying to make life changes to limit stressors. That has made a huge difference. Traditional Medicinals "Easy Now" tea is super relaxing - normally herbal teas don't have much effect on me but this one does. Coloring, meditating (I find that when I want to meditate and NOT fall asleep, I get groggy as hell, LOL, so I've started putting that to good use), gentle stretching, watching something happy (My Little Pony is my drug of choice), reading something that's not too engaging or stressful (no page-turners and thriller novels), self-massage and self-reflexology. Edited to add: I understand being deployed can mean not a lot of flexibility in terms of time and stress. But can you limit stressors you can control (like your school and job hunt?). Also, I know mail times suck majorly, but if you'd like, I can send you some tea and coloring supplies Quote Hope LEVEL 0 | DEEP DWARF | ADVENTURER STR 0 | DEX 0 | STA 0 | CON 0 | WIS 0 | CHA 0 Backstory | Facebook || Challenges: "Certainty of death...small chance of success...what are we waiting for?" - Gimli Link to comment
Lizz Posted March 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 The stressors are more out of my control, I am working in Afghanistan. Quote Link to comment
aishahhope Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 I know. I just mean - can you limit other stressors besides work? Such as rearranging things with school and your job hunt? 1 Quote Hope LEVEL 0 | DEEP DWARF | ADVENTURER STR 0 | DEX 0 | STA 0 | CON 0 | WIS 0 | CHA 0 Backstory | Facebook || Challenges: "Certainty of death...small chance of success...what are we waiting for?" - Gimli Link to comment
Lizz Posted March 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2014 School isn't as bad of a workload as I feared, but still more than last semester. Quote Link to comment
Guzzi Posted March 16, 2014 Report Share Posted March 16, 2014 I'm kinda in the same boat, but possibly even a little worse. With me, stress always shows up in my sleep pattern. And the last few months have been quite emotionally draining. Right now I'm getting by on between 3-4 hours sleep a night, and no, it's not enough to function on. I manage to slog it out for a couple of weeks and then - Boom! The crash, where I just stop functioning at all, and spend a couple of days recovering. I have sedatives from the doc, but she doesn't want me using them for more than 3 nights in a row (and neither do I, they're disgusting things) with at least 4 nights without them. I'm just not getting a handle on it at all. The last two nights have been sedative nights, and I've been walking around like a zombie today and yesterday. Sorry, no advice being offered from this corner... I just wanted to bitch and moan a little, seemed like the place to do it. Hope you don't mind 1 Quote Make Life Rue The Day Turning back the clock Recipe book 14 Life is far too short to take seriously Link to comment
Lizz Posted March 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2014 Guzzi, please feel free as I do not mind at all. I feel I am finally getting into a schedule, not as early as I had hoped but it is working. next goal is to add working out into my schedule. Poor chairs at work (most are borken) and poor posture have given me back pain for the past few months. I was able to get my back checked out on the sly by one of the medics, and was told I do not have enough muscle tone in my back. Quote Link to comment
Guzzi Posted March 17, 2014 Report Share Posted March 17, 2014 Thanks Lizz, I'm glad you're finally getting into a rhythm. I think that's half the battle sometimes. What's your plans for working on your posture/muscle tone? The obvious suggestions to make would be swimming (don't suppose you have access to that right now) or yoga. Plus yoga might help with the relaxation/sleep thing too... *note to self: get back to doing yoga* 1 Quote Make Life Rue The Day Turning back the clock Recipe book 14 Life is far too short to take seriously Link to comment
insanity Posted March 17, 2014 Report Share Posted March 17, 2014 Guzzi, please feel free as I do not mind at all. I feel I am finally getting into a schedule, not as early as I had hoped but it is working. next goal is to add working out into my schedule. Poor chairs at work (most are borken) and poor posture have given me back pain for the past few months. I was able to get my back checked out on the sly by one of the medics, and was told I do not have enough muscle tone in my back.Is standing for work an option? I do that now, and have less complaints about back pain these days. Even got one of those wobbleboards for when I'm feeling extra frisky. Also, good to hear about the sleep... 1 Quote "Insanity - you make my world a better place man, you really do! That shit is awesome! :D" - Guzzi- My first challenge My battle Log: Insanity: Warrior Monk Honorary Ranger dubbed by DarK_RaideR, 1000 Pound club (875 of 1000) Link to comment
Lizz Posted April 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Ok, it has been a while since I posted on this. Success is mine. I finally am on a sleep schedule giving me between 6-8 hours of sleep, time to work out, and school work complete! Now to have more motivation for job hunting in a waning market... 1 Quote Link to comment
Lizz Posted April 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Thanks Lizz, I'm glad you're finally getting into a rhythm. I think that's half the battle sometimes. What's your plans for working on your posture/muscle tone? The obvious suggestions to make would be swimming (don't suppose you have access to that right now) or yoga. Plus yoga might help with the relaxation/sleep thing too...*note to self: get back to doing yoga*I have a few things that help with posture; first I have a yoga ball to replace my chair; second is my neck knife that I cary is clipped to my bra instead and prevensts slouching (I have named it mother for that reason); third I have a friend who wants to do a triathalon when he returns so he built us workouts for core, legs, and running. Quote Link to comment
Lizz Posted April 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Is standing for work an option? I do that now, and have less complaints about back pain these days. Even got one of those wobbleboards for when I'm feeling extra frisky. Also, good to hear about the sleep...Standing is not an option due to the way our offices are built, and our funiture is built. Amazing what you can do with plywood. Quote Link to comment
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