Night Owl Turns a Corner
My Q4 self-audit has been to ensure proper amounts of sleep and something fundamentally shifted in October when I went all in about it being non-negotiable. First, I got my Bivalent booster shot to knock myself into bed, knowing full well I’d need at least 2 whole days to recover and a few more days of general fatigue. Next, instead of sitting in front of my laptop with my Processing book to practice code for hours, I sat in a hot bath for 45 minutes. This was made much easier with a Black & Decker Grimebuster Rechargeable Electric Scrub for a squeaky clean tub and Dr. Teal’s Lavender Bath Salt to soak, scrub myself down and relax. The nightly act of both quickly became a ritual where draining away the bathwater also symbolized draining away any lingering stress — for me, simple visualizations can often be the most effective, and this was one of them.
As for winding down my thoughts in order to be asleep by midnight, I learned quite by happy accident that a glass of warm milk really does encourage drowsiness. Not too long ago, I found a tasty treat by a Japanese pastry company called ‘Happy Clover’ — an old fashion swiss roll — made even better with a half glass of milk. After 2 weeks of this pre-bedtime routine, I realized I fell asleep a lot easier; a miracle which even Night Owl noticed. The few months of focus on adequate rest has also affected work — I‘ve been better able to concentrate for longer stretches of time and I feel more present. This too, Night Owl noticed and quietly pondered.
Q4 is almost finished and much to my surprise, at some point in the past 3 months as I turned down the covers around 11:30pm, Night Owl decidedly turned a corner, it seems. Historically, he’d appear around 11pm and we’d often both stay up until ~3am — however, recently he shows up to ask, “is it almost time for bed?” It’s actually rather sweet. I think finally, finally he’s convinced of its benefits, especially compared to how wobbly it became toward the end of a noticeably sleep-deprived Q3.
I’m affirming once again how much I like self-audits because it reminds me how nice it is to take better care of myself when I leave out any reductionist approach of sheer “will power” — a short-sighted conflation with ‘purpose’, in my view. It’s much more interesting and, I find, more edifying to experiment with small things which bolster and support a 3-month commitment to try something differently — and to stay open to what it reveals about me. And if it just so happens that what successfully incentivized mending my relationship with sleep was a nightly combo of an easy-clean tub scrubber, relaxing salt soaks, and a half glass of warm milk, great! Long live quarterly self-audits and its opportunities to FAFO about what’s good for me.
Bonne nuit!