Wellness Red Flag

I’ve been going to sleep later. I’m typically in bed by 10:30 pm. and I’ve wanted for a long time to get that down to 9:00 so I can do some writing before I log in for work. But I’ve been slipping up and going later and later. Last night I didn’t go to bed until midnight. That, my friend, is a problem. So, I wanted to investigate why.

Because I track my habits, it didn’t take long for me to see what changed over the past couple of weeks. It turns out that it there were simple things– I stopped logging in my successes at the end of the day and my minutes walking per week decreased significantly. The thing is, I love both of these activities.

I enjoy walking and it has been a great stress releiver. Somewhere along the line, though, I stopped prioritzing them. Don’t get me wrong. I was still able to get in the recommended 150 minutes per week and I was still losing weight.

As for my end-of-day success list, I didn’t think it was important. I had my done calendars with my stickers. Did it really matter that the last thing I thought of before sleeping was writing at least 4 things I was proud of? Apparently.

The rule I have is that when I stop sleeping well, I need to evaluate what’s going on. I may think that things are going all right, but they are obviously not.

Time to rearrange the schedule. Anyone else have a wellness red flag? Sometimes we think we’re doing better than we are.

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About Irette Y Patterson

Irette Y Patterson is a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and romance. She has been published in FIYAH, Strange Horizons, Translunar Travelers Lounge and on the website of The Saturday Evening Post. When not writing, you can find her digging around in her garden or catching the latest musical in the theater.
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