Friday 20 January 2012

Thunder, Lightning and Self-Discipline

What do these have to do with each other, you may wonder. Let me explain.

The very first post I ever published on here was about sleep, which goes to show how important that is to me. Maybe I do need a bit more of it than others; I can function with 5 hours, but only for a few days, then I need to get up to my 7-8 hours again, otherwise I'll be useless and walk around all day like a zombie.

Usually, during the week, I switch the lamp on my bedside table off between 11.00 pm and midnight, most of the time quite close to 11.00. When I have had a particularly exhausting day, or the night before was too short and I am very tired, it is lights out earlier, sometimes as early as 10.00 pm.
Sounds like plenty of sleep until 7.00 am, when I wake up from the sound of the bells from the nearby church that serves as my alarm clock, doesn't it?
And yet, there are times when it is nowhere near enough.

Take last night.
I went to bed, read a little, and switched the light off at half eleven. For a few nights in a row now, my mind has been whirling with fragments of thoughts and ideas; nothing troubling or worrying, but apparently enough to keep me from sinking into my friend Morpheus' arms as quickly as I'd like to. The same happened again last night, but eventually, of course I did fall asleep.

As is my habit, the bedroom window was open to a crack; I was warm and comfortable enough underneath my duvet plus a heavy blanket. On falling asleep, the last thing I consciously heard was the sound of rain, something I find very cosy when I can snuggle deeper under my duvet and do not need to be out there in the cold and rain. It had been quite windy all afternoon and evening, and the pattern of the rain changed with each gust blowing between my house and the neighbour's.

At some stage very early this morning, I woke up because the sound had changed yet again: now it was a prattle of what I am sure was icy rain, clattering on the roof of my neighbour's bike shed and my metal window sills only a few metres away from me. The blinds where moving with the wind, too, and then the thunder and lightning started, all at once.
There was no slow approach, with the gap between thunder and lightning narrowing as the thunderstorm came closer, no, it was right there on top of us when it broke loose.
I was too comfortable to get up and watch the spectacle from my kitchen window, so I stayed in bed, awake and listening.

By the time the church bells chimed seven, I was so tired the temptation to stay in bed for another half hour at least was really big. But - and this is where the self-discipline comes into play - I got up.

When I first started working from home back in May 2011, I was determined to stick to a realistic schedule of working hours, and so far, I have not had any trouble doing just that. By the time I start making my phone calls at around 9.00 am, I have already been up for two hours, having coffee, reading and replying to emails (business as well as personal ones), reading (and sometimes writing) blogs, I have fed the cat, showered and dressed properly, had breakfast and washed the few dishes I used for my muesli and coffee.
This morning, the temptation to get up later was certainly there, but that's the point of self-discipline - you just don't. (Or, depending on what it is about, you just DO).

By the way, this is what I saw when I came into the kitchen a few minutes after seven this morning:

20 comments:

  1. testing, testing.

    Just can't get the comments accepted...the page just goes blank.

    SP

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    1. Well, this one did! But I know what you mean. I've had trouble commenting and/or reading comments, too.

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  2. I do love the freedom of retirement - one of the perks of getting older! My self-discipline can be channeled into other things. The irony is that although I can now get up when I please (when I don't have commitments) I tend to get up early (0605 this morning).

    Like you, though, I love being all cosy in bed as the storms rage outside. Your picture reminds me that it's dark and wintry in your hemisphere.

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    1. You know, I do look forward to getting older. So far, getting older for me has meant getting better, enjoying my life more, being more the kind of person I feel comfortable being.

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  3. Self and discipline are words that don't run together so well nowadays but fortunately getting up early in the morning is so ingrained in me that none is required. Nowadays I just go to bed earlier (and earlier and earlier...).

    P.S. GB tells me off when I tell him he's getting older so how come he's allowed to say it?

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    1. He he that's siblings for you, Scriptor!

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    2. CJ's not giving quite the quite the whole story of the conversation to which he is, I think, referring, Meike! He didn't say I was getting older. He said I was nearly 70!! OK by implication I'm getting older but NOT 70. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with 70 it's just that I don't want to be there yet. And I have a few years to go.

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    3. Indeed, nothing wrong with being 70 - my Dad will have his 70th birthday at the end of this month, and we are all looking forward to it!
      Strictly speeking, people are getting on 70 from the day of their birth ;-)

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  4. I am right there with you, I need sleep or I turn into a zombie ( a really grumpy one). Hope you have a good rest tonight.

    Best,
    e

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    1. I did, Elizabeth, thank you! Only just got up, it is 9.00 am here and I am enjoying blogland along with my morning coffee.

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  5. I need a lot more sleep than most people. I fall asleep around 9:30 and get up at 7. If I go to sleep around midnight as I'm sometimes tempted to do, I am terribly cranky the next day. Luckily, I do enjoy getting up early and hate sleeping in as it makes me feel very lazy/yucky. : }

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    1. You are right, Sonia, there is something like getting too much sleep, and on the very rare occasions I have that, it gives me a lingering headache that makes me be in a bad mood all day. Going out in the open helps, I find.

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  6. I enjoyed reading your post. I am glad you can go to sleep and stay asleep. I have good nights and bad ones and last night was awful. I woke up at 2:30 AM and could not go back to sleep. I laid there and planned out my whole day. And then when I did get up at 4:30 AM and had my Nebulizer treatment and had coffee and went into my office my book built, I began the all day long task of changing it over to what I had planned when I couldn't sleep. I put more emphasis on the Japanese stuff I had from the early 1950s and made the walls cozy with pictures, posters and certificates. Found stuff I had lost for 30 years or more and now it is on the walls. Keep on writing.

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    1. Sounds like those bad nights are actually good for you - or at least, the result is! I admire how you managed to do so many things on so little sleep.

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  7. Hello:
    We admire your self-discipline and do think that this is absolutely vital if one is going to make a success of working from home. It is too easy to fritter away the time without being productive.

    However, after a very busy working life, we now in retirement,regard ourselves as complete lazy tarts....and we love it!!

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  8. Lovely to see you, Jane and Lance! Oh, I very much enjoy being a lazy tart when I do not have to work, believe me!! But I can not really relax as long as the place has not had its regular cleaning and there are other things to be done. Once everything is sorted, I do not have any ambition towards productivity other than the odd blog entry.

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  9. I need plenty of sleep and am really grouchy if I don't get it. Luckily it's rarely a problem for me.

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    1. Patsy, seems like there are a lot more like us around, people who need plenty of sleep. And I always thought most other adults were constantly out and about and went through their days on just 5 or 6 hours every night!

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  10. Sat here on a conference call with Greece and Germany, still in my underpants. Working from home certainly has its advantages. This is so much better than rushing in through the commuter traffic. Self-discipline is a movable feast. But when Mrs E is awake half the night reading and keeping me awake, to be able to nod off during the day, when no pressing engagements require my attention, is most welcome.
    Getting out of bed when it is still dark at 7 is quite a trial though. Hibernation appeals a lot.

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  11. Perl, if I was Queen of Germany, I'd make hibernation possible for those of my subjects who wanted it. Alas, the probability of that ever happening is nearing zero...
    As for the commuter traffic - I agree, not having to face the crowds on the road or the train is a huge plus of working from home. I really do not miss that one bit, in spite of it often having served as an inspiration for my blog.

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