Destressification

Can I catch up on all that lost sleep? The answer seems to be yes and no.

The good news is that, like all debt, with some work, sleep debt can be repaid—though it won't happen in one extended snooze marathon.
~~snip~~
For the chronically sleep deprived, take it easy for a few months to get back into a natural sleep pattern, says Lawrence J. Epstein, medical director of the Harvard-affiliated Sleep HealthCenters.

Sure fine—take it easy for a few months //snort//. Easy to do IF you can comfortably control your life. Of course, now that I think on it, I can control my life much more than I suppose. At the moment anyway.

The Amazing Bob’s health is better, stable right now. I’ve gotten word from all my docs— tumor’s are bigger/sound awareness is down/cornea’s good but left eye's got new tricks goin' on BUT you don’t need more surgery right now. Phew!

We’re stable or as much so as we ever are. So, what up? Why do I still have crazy, sleepless nights? Persistent, leftover tension. That’s my best guess.

What to do? What to do?

nascent kitchen wall Rouseau/doodle

Possibly it’d help if I slowed down—stopped feeling as though I must be in constant motion or, dunno, the sky will fall. There are things that I totally gotta do every single day like leg exercises and stretching, feeding the Tuxes and TAB. There are things that I need to do on most days—triking or, if there’s snow everywhere, walking. Past that, it’s all negotiable. I work doing freelance design/layout/prepress from home. Work time can be plugged in around the stuff that brings me peace and joy—like painting, taking pics, seeing Helen and MIles, hangin’ with my handsome man, reading, watching sci fi shows with Jen and Oni.

Yes, there’s more that I can do to chill my head out. Like avoiding long drives or, at least, breaking them into manageable bites. Fer example, my four hour journey to Hoosick Falls can be broken up by stops in Cambridge, Lincoln, Erving, Brattleboro and atop Hogback Mountain. Sure, that makes for a longer trip BUT those pauses would add fun and decrease the driving anxiety.

TAB and I’ve talked of buying a Tai Chi vid. We could both use the mellow, destressifying movement and Doc Plotkin recommended it to help with my wicked tippyness. We have to find one with closed captions though. The goal is to bring down the wired level, delete the albatross of angst, to chill the fuck out. Communication other than in written form exhausts me.

AND, on the communication front, I'm joining an ASL Meet Up group.

This is an easy-going, casual, ASL get-together to meet people who enjoy American Sign Language, who want to brush up on their signing skills, and want to learn more ASL by using it as often as possible.
We strive to have a good time and communicate without using voices. If we need to, we draw or write what we don't know how to sign, and if lots of folks show up, we split up into small groups and mix and mingle, so we can actually see one another clearly, face-to-face and get a good conversation going.

 This looks like it's totally my speed. I'll learn more, get more comfortable and be able to teach TAB, Jen, Oni and Helen a little more. All this in a relaxed, no pressure environment.

I can do this.