For what seems like months now, but in reality is probably more like a few weeks, I’ve had a recurring issue with not sleeping through the night. Without fail, I wake up 2 to 4 (and sometimes, though rarely, more) times a night, and while I fall back asleep within a matter of minutes, its still extremely exhausting. Given how I’ve been feeling as a result, I liken a 2 minute interruption of my sleep to about 15 minutes of lost sleep. So, if I wake up 3 times a night, that’s akin to going to bed 45 minutes later, which is a lot. If that happens 5 nights during the week – which has been the case this week – that’s a loss of 3 hours and 45 minutes. Not cool.
I’ve been proactive about the situation, ensuring I avoid caffeine in the afternoon, getting exercise 3 times a week, making sure its not too warm in the bedroom, not falling asleep to the TV and even taking a shower before bed. None of this has helped. Last night was the closest I came to a normal night of sleep, and that’s only because I was already dangerously exhausted before going to sleep 2 hours after my bedtime as a result of playing softball until almost 9. Even so, I didn’t sleep through the night.
I’m not particularly stressed out, either. Well, as this shitty sleep streak builds, I’m becoming more and more distressed, but its not like I’m lying awake at night worrying about getting sleep. On the contrary, falling asleep is not generally a problem. Its just that I can’t stay asleep. And this shit is getting old, fast. My productivity at work is suffering somewhat as a result, and that really bothers me. This is especially true now, as I’ve got two deadline-intensive projects cooking that require a considerable amount of “busy work”, and I just don’t have the focus and energy that I need. I mean, I’ll get it all done, but its a daily struggle, to say the least.
And what’s more is that I have stuff that needs attention at home. Completing the fence rebuild is a high-priority, simply because I need to get that finished before the snow hits. I’m thinking that I’ll knock out half of that project over the next two weekends, and save the rest for mid-to-late September, when it will be cooler and I’ll have more time. And hopefully by that time, which will be after our much-needed weeklong vacation, I’ll be sleeping better, and as a result, more rested (and less likely to cut an appendage off).
This weekend should be interesting. We don’t have anything major going on, but I do have a few personal goals in mind. I have to try to watch Nixon again (the disc was “dirty” when I tried last weekend, so I watched Platoon via On Demand instead, without attempting to clean the disc first), so that’s 4 hours gone. And we have to start preparing for our camping trip. You know you’re “old” when you begin preparing for a trip 4 weeks out. 
But really, its necessary. If nothing else, we have to set the tent up in the back yard and label all the poles and what-not, since the instructions are MIA. Last year’s camping trip saw us struggling to get that damned thing up as it was getting dark, and I don’t want a repeat of that shit. Ugh.
But, if nothing else, I just want to get one fucking night of uninterrupted sleep. Stay tuned…
