Shift

You change one little thing and everything changes. Well, maybe not everything, just a whole bunch of things. No doubt, my bout of anxiety last month resulted somehow, ironically, from getting more sleep. Maybe more energy and clarity reduced my tolerance. So I had to take time off, had to think, asked for some help, and came up with a plan.

A few days into the new schedule, I am delighted. Essentially, here is what is different:

1. instead of cramming as much meaningful activity as possible into my morning routine, I only write 100 words
2. I start work a half hour earlier and take a shorter lunch so I can leave work at 4 instead of 5 (and Tuesdays I quit at 12:30 instead of 2:30)
3. which gives me time to go for a walk after work
4. and still arrive home around 5:30, when I can start writing time with an entry in the nature journal, then move onto drier stuff

The first point (simplifying my morning routine) was only an afterthought, but it has made a huge difference. I was having such a hard time getting out of bed, and all along I blamed work. Now a lot of things have changed, but I think it's easier to get started mostly because I don't expect so much of myself in the 90 minutes before I leave for work. I'm not a morning person, sheesh, don't forget it! However, that small, simple writing task is foundational—ecstatic task.

And how about looking forward to an hour of unstructured adventure time after work? It's awesome!

Things really seem to have clicked. It is invigorating. At the same time I feel reverberations and a foreshadowing of more shifts that must come. This is more than I bargained for with 1 step of 6 Changes.

I had anticipating moving bedtime forward another 15 minutes, but now I'm not so sure. Going to bed at 10:45 and reading until 11:15 gives me about 6½ hours of sleep. I'm not used to that much on a regular basis. Last night a sound sleep left me feeling well rested. Maybe it's enough. Let's stick with this routine a few more days and see how it goes. Anyway, later this month I must start moving bedtime and the alarm clock forward by 15-minute increments to prepare ahead for Daylight Savings Time.