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Earlier this week I had a morning where I woke up and immediately realized that I felt *great*, as in Tony the Tiger ggggrrr-ATE!
I had the energy and focus to do all sorts of things I hadn't had the energy to do in weeks (to tell the truth, I was actually a little hyper, which can be a natural state for me).
So, I began trying to reason out what was the factor/factors which had resulted in this infusion of energy and focus.
Well,
1. sleping through the night was the big one.
I've been waking up at 4 a.m. most mornings. The Night before the Big Sleep I had finally taken one of Alexx's Gabapentin, because I had begun to feel seriously achy, including daily headaches or migraines. The week before I had begun to feel so rundown that I was concerned that my blood pressure might be dangerously low (the last time I felt that rundown was last summer, when a drug medication caused my blood pressure to drop drastically). However, using a talking blood pressure monitor informed me that my blood pressure was perfect, and only one point off from the numbers stated in the booklet as being ideal.
What had begun to worry me most wasn't feeling exhausted: it was that I was feeling less and less able to deal with the day. Except for a bout of menopause-related depression, I don't suffer from depression but that in itself indicated, to me, something with a physical cause (I know, you can't separate physical from mental causes of depression, but I was hoping I could figure out if it was a chicken or an egg problem).
It turns out that there is a strong link between sleep and depression, even for people who aren't normally depressed.
The Sleep Foundation
Depression and Sleep
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/depression-and-sleep
(I'm hoping to find more resources on this subject, if anyone can provide some pointers.)
2. Things that make me happy
Another thing that had boosted my happy quota was that, for the past few days and evenings, I had been rereading a book that made me really happy. I mean, I love this book (for the curious, it is _Meddling Kids_ by Edgar Cantero, and you can find it as an ebook from Bookshare, but I encourage folks to listen to the audiobook, available on NLS, because the reader is *so amazing!*).
I don't know about you, but sometimes I forget to do things that make me happy. I have this Ravenclaw drive to learn new things, a Slytherin drive to not just accomplish but excel at things, and a Gryffindore need to help people and produce resources that benefit people.
During one period of my life, when ai was killing myself trying to make other people happy, I went without eating dessert for a run of years. Let me state this explicitly: EVERYBODY DESERVES DESSERT!
So, that book made me happy. Reading and writing fan fiction makes me happy. Listening to my favorite music, as opposed to just listening to whatever is one the radio station, makes me happy.
Have you done something that makes you *really* happy this week? Not just mildly enjoyable, but really happy, where it leaves you feeling energized for hours afterward? And don't wait until a special occasion to treat yourself well: eVERY DAY IS SPECIAL ENOUGH TO WEAR THE GOOD BRA! (Women, you know what I'm talking about, right?)
3. Sunshine
Connected to the feeling exhausted and feeling I have to be productive, I've been forgetting to go out and just absorb some sunshine this summer.
VITAMIN D IS THE BEST FREE THERAPY YOU CAN GET! So, go outside, soak up the sun, do some deep breathing, relax your shoulders and spine. Listen to the goddamn happy birds for as long as you can stand it.
I know that these three basics aren't enough for everyone but, as we all have so much more stresses we are dealing with, we need to remember to take care of ourselves, because that is the best preventive medicine we can take.
I had the energy and focus to do all sorts of things I hadn't had the energy to do in weeks (to tell the truth, I was actually a little hyper, which can be a natural state for me).
So, I began trying to reason out what was the factor/factors which had resulted in this infusion of energy and focus.
Well,
1. sleping through the night was the big one.
I've been waking up at 4 a.m. most mornings. The Night before the Big Sleep I had finally taken one of Alexx's Gabapentin, because I had begun to feel seriously achy, including daily headaches or migraines. The week before I had begun to feel so rundown that I was concerned that my blood pressure might be dangerously low (the last time I felt that rundown was last summer, when a drug medication caused my blood pressure to drop drastically). However, using a talking blood pressure monitor informed me that my blood pressure was perfect, and only one point off from the numbers stated in the booklet as being ideal.
What had begun to worry me most wasn't feeling exhausted: it was that I was feeling less and less able to deal with the day. Except for a bout of menopause-related depression, I don't suffer from depression but that in itself indicated, to me, something with a physical cause (I know, you can't separate physical from mental causes of depression, but I was hoping I could figure out if it was a chicken or an egg problem).
It turns out that there is a strong link between sleep and depression, even for people who aren't normally depressed.
The Sleep Foundation
Depression and Sleep
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/depression-and-sleep
(I'm hoping to find more resources on this subject, if anyone can provide some pointers.)
2. Things that make me happy
Another thing that had boosted my happy quota was that, for the past few days and evenings, I had been rereading a book that made me really happy. I mean, I love this book (for the curious, it is _Meddling Kids_ by Edgar Cantero, and you can find it as an ebook from Bookshare, but I encourage folks to listen to the audiobook, available on NLS, because the reader is *so amazing!*).
I don't know about you, but sometimes I forget to do things that make me happy. I have this Ravenclaw drive to learn new things, a Slytherin drive to not just accomplish but excel at things, and a Gryffindore need to help people and produce resources that benefit people.
During one period of my life, when ai was killing myself trying to make other people happy, I went without eating dessert for a run of years. Let me state this explicitly: EVERYBODY DESERVES DESSERT!
So, that book made me happy. Reading and writing fan fiction makes me happy. Listening to my favorite music, as opposed to just listening to whatever is one the radio station, makes me happy.
Have you done something that makes you *really* happy this week? Not just mildly enjoyable, but really happy, where it leaves you feeling energized for hours afterward? And don't wait until a special occasion to treat yourself well: eVERY DAY IS SPECIAL ENOUGH TO WEAR THE GOOD BRA! (Women, you know what I'm talking about, right?)
3. Sunshine
Connected to the feeling exhausted and feeling I have to be productive, I've been forgetting to go out and just absorb some sunshine this summer.
VITAMIN D IS THE BEST FREE THERAPY YOU CAN GET! So, go outside, soak up the sun, do some deep breathing, relax your shoulders and spine. Listen to the goddamn happy birds for as long as you can stand it.
I know that these three basics aren't enough for everyone but, as we all have so much more stresses we are dealing with, we need to remember to take care of ourselves, because that is the best preventive medicine we can take.
