One thing I admit to be embarrassed, even guilty about are those incidents in which I learn a lesson but don't take to employing it until I learn it multiple more times. With integrity I think I ought to have to go through the experience only once to learn how to properly conduct myself, but I guess reality must demonstrate itself several times for it to sink it.
Namely, this week I've been learning how important it is for me to maintain a regular bedtime. As much as I'd like to stay up until 1 AM, I've been discovering what a negative impact such a practice has, a cost that far outweighs its hedonistic benefit. It's utterly impossible for me to sleep in, for once a certain time frame passes (about nine AM) my body won't let me sleep any longer, no matter how exhausted I am when I wake up. Consequently I've got to adapt my bedtime to adjust to my body-imposed wake-up time. I've kept a regular bedtime in the past, but all too slowly and soon do I make allowances that undoes the habit.
And what do I lose? It drastically undermines my mood for the entire day, for one. Intellectually I feel as if my powers have been reduce, I'm more sensitive to negative matters, it slows down my recovery from workouts, and more. A lack of good quality sleep may explain why my emotions have been so haywire last week as I mentioned in my weekly summary, and it may also explain why I've been so disappointed with my progress at the gym.
The most difficult thing is that this is a lesson I've learned before. Surely I have experienced all these consequences before, and surely I have resolved to impose a more uncompromising bedtime in response. I stick to my resolution . . . and then slip. Well, I didn't slip much this time, for I have been doing well to go to bed around 12:30 AM as I set myself to, but my main failure has been to recognize that that has been inadequate.
There are probably other examples in my life where this phenomenon applies, but in my sleep-deprived state (natch) I find it difficult to be able to recall any more. But how ever many times I experience the consequence of a lesson neglected to be used, there's always the chance to take the next day to right it. It's not a devastating failure after all, just something that can improve my life that I should use to improve my life. As such, I'll take to adjusting my habits again to go to bed by midnight at worst and to put on my orange safety glasses after 10 PM unless at work. (The safety glasses help promote melatonin production, a sleep hormone.)
I should know better, but there's always another day to improve and make things better.
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