Life Past 30

When I was younger, the prospect of experiencing insomnia seemed far-fetched, but I soon realized that it sneaks up on you until one day, you find yourself staring at the ceiling when you should be sleeping.  During my teens and early twenties, I never had any problems with sleeping, although falling asleep usually took a little longer for me than most people.  However, once I went to sleep, I stayed sleep until the alarm went off.  I began suffering from bouts of insomnia when I was 27.  The first time it happened, I thought nothing of it and attributed it to something I had eaten the evening before.  As the years went on, insomnia crept up on me from nowhere and caused much frustration in daily life and activities.  I tried using a sleep aid once, but when I found myself waking up feeling more tired that I was before I went to bed, I decided that was not the way to go. 

Over time, I have learned to deal with the occasional episode of insomnia, although I am still very much annoyed by them.  Not being able to sleep is one of the worst feelings in the world, but exercise and diet seem to help me battle this issue when it occurs.  Luckily, I do not suffer from insomnia too often, but when it shows up, it puts a damper on my day.  I hope it does not happen again any time soon.

In an effort to catch up on blogging, I stayed up way too late last night and into this morning knowing that I had to work today.  I figured since I had some energy left over from the easy day yesterday, I could swing it without any problems.  When I finally rested my head on my pillow, the time was 5:49AM this morning.  Surprisingly, I woke up at 8:38 this morning, although I felt quite groggy and wished to crawl back into bed.  I heard somewhere that the older you get, the less sleep you need.  I am beginning to think that was a lie.  I need all the Zzz’s I can catch and at least 7 hours of sleep a night to feel like myself.

Of course, it was not always this way as I used to have work/party marathons for three days straight when I was in my twenties.  Back then, my friends and I could literally work all day long for 10 hours, go home, shower, and dress for a night out on the town and go straight to work afterwards.  These days, staying up late is restricted only to the weekends and up to Saturdays mostly.  Sundays are needed for me to recuperate from the lack of proper sleep on Friday and Saturday night, but tonight will be different.  Once I have completed this post and another post on my other blog, I am heading straight to the bed to count sheep.

I must rescind the “Worst Morning” award given to yesterday’s morning rush hour.  THIS morning was the worst, but crocheting helped me deal with it.  As I progressed in making the scarf I plan on wearing out of here this evening, I stopped caring about the traffic and was happy to have the seat beside me remain empty all the way to the downtown area.  Not one person interrupted me while I crocheted and my ears were not assailed by the screaming of young children.  Don’t get me wrong, I love children, but I cannot tolerate uncontrolled outbursts and fits.  That is just one reason why I do not go to Chuck E. Cheese’s.  Overall, the bus was very quiet and that is always a great thing.   

I woke up in a great mood this morning because, for the first time in a long time, I was able to snag 9 hours of sleep last night.  I honestly cannot recall the last time I was able to do that.  I stayed away from the computer when I got home and was not tempted in the least to log on.  Feeling good as I write this post, my mind is racing with thoughts of running again.  December 1st will be here before I know it and the prospect of hitting the pavement and clearing my head is so welcoming.  I have been perusing a few sites that sell workout clothing and found a few items that will be perfect for running in the cold.  The shoes I wore during the marathon still have a lot of miles on them, but I plan on buying another pair soon.  With the number of miles I plan on running, the new shoes will come in handy.  Now, if only I could find a way to fast forward through the next couple of weeks. 

This is day I was waiting for since crossing the finish line.  All week long, walking and wincing in pain, I kept Friday in front of me like a dangling reward.  Although I felt better yesterday, Friday has been stuck in my head because it means the beginning of my first free weekend in three weeks.  It signifies the start of me being able to get as much sleep as possible without having to wake up to the clock for other obligations.  When I woke up this morning, I felt refreshed and could not wait to get the day started.  I have been wearing a smile all day because I know that as of close of business today, I will have the chance to crawl into bed and stay there for as long as I wish.  Nothing could be more satisfying to me at the moment.  I just want my pillows.