beauty sleep

Weekly Therapy: Which way do I go?

- Mel

the week:
Recovering from traveling, returned to my original office building (but in a new space), and roads closed on my usual route leaving my house THROUGH NOVEMBER (ugh).

detour sign

weekend:
Another race weekend; this time a road trip to Solon, Iowa for the Hawkeye 25k trail race. Super excited for this one — spoiler alert: there’s a water crossing!

Though I have to wake up at, like, 4 am to drive east, and Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

seven things, seven days:
1. My sleep schedule is a MESS.
2. We saw Fun Home at the Des Moines Civic Center. I had a giant lump in my throat by the end and wanted an ugly, cathartic cry. It was such a beautiful show!
3. Also, enjoyed an awesome dinner at RoCA downtown. I loved my pasta dish so much (gluten-free!) — and there were a lot of choices for gluten-free dining.
5. Ugh, Runner Face. {via Women’s Running}
6. How much does it cost to be fit? (My percentage per my monthly income is pretty high!) {via Outside}
7. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

How Do You Define Beauty?

- Mel

I could have put today’s post under yesterday’s Blogger, May I? prompt about struggles. How someone defines beauty is so subjective that it feels insensitive to project how or what I think it is. Like art, beauty is open to interpretation. It’s one of those things you know it when you see it.

Sleep is beautiful for some people.

Nature is beautiful to others.

Being able to spell “beautiful” without Googling it could be your definition of beauty. Or beauty simply in just the words.

There is beauty in many things and within people or about people. People, though, is how most would start to define the meaning of beauty. Looking in and up are ways to expand the definition of beauty.

To be honest, I feel pretty wordless right now about this topic, as it is difficult to personally define. I guess that I know beauty when I feel something “light up” within me. I’m inspired, I’m moved, I’m affected. I love.

February 30: a lesson in getting out of bed

- Mel

I am NOT a morning person.

I am also an insomniac. In an attempt to regulate my sleeping schedule and embrace the creativity that comes with early-morning writing and generally be super cranky for 30 days, this month’s Wake Up Every Morning Before 8am had disappointing results. Meaning: I actually slept less and not more. I’d be worn out from a long day, and still be up until 1am or later (even when retiring to bed by 11pm) and still have to wake up by 8am. Not to mention, this last week we had painters come EVERY morning by 7am. SEVEN. I was exhausted and cranky and unmotivated and uncreative and felt lethargic for most of February. I know how important sleep is, and I’ve tried every trick in the book (there’s no TV in our bedroom; I read before bedtime; I drink tea) and I’ve tried several different drugs. (let me tell you about the time I took 2 Simply Sleep pills before an international flight from Germany and was WIDE AWAKE the entire trip. FML.) On top of all that, I have TWO separate sleeping problems (well, three if you count the asshole cat that wakes me up at 3:30): going to sleep and staying asleep. It’s one, the other or both on most nights… that I usually make up for by way of afternoon naps on my days off and a night or two a month of dead sleep for 10-12 hours (from pure exhaustion, I’m sure).

The only time I felt rested this month was in California — which, shocker, is closer to my regular sleep patterns considering Pacific Time (I was asleep by 11pm every night and up by 8am — and OUT THE DOOR with really shitty hotel coffee, doing things, by 9am). And if you’re thinking “it’s vacation, of course you slept better.” Not so fast… I had derby responsibilities nearly EVERY day on our trip, so it’s not like it was a no-schedule-free-for-all. Plus, there was a lot of drive time and no sleep in the car (since I was mostly an anxious passenger).

I have to accept that I just might not be on the same schedule as the “average” 30-something. Those two extra hours of sleep are imperative to my well-being. So this 30-day challenge* was a lesson in listening to MY body; not what society thinks is the “right time to be up-and-at-’em.” Also: ear plugs are a MUST. This is a new discovery, thanks to an awesome care package I received.

Do you have your own sleep challenges? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

*I used two days from the end of January to make up for the short month. And to be completely transparent, I missed two days — one, the day after vacation, I woke up at 10am; two, the morning after a couple margaritas, I woke up at 9am. I gave it the ol’ college try!

Next up: NO SUGAR FOR 30 DAYS IN MARCH. *gulp*

Read more:
My year of 30-day challenges.
January Success: No Alcohol for 30 days!