{"id":191,"date":"2016-09-24T14:23:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-24T14:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/?p=191"},"modified":"2020-05-24T14:25:10","modified_gmt":"2020-05-24T14:25:10","slug":"get-some-zs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/24\/get-some-zs\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Some Z’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"img_2248\"<\/a>            It really is amazing the things that keep me up at night. As a light sleeper, I am woken up fairly easily and can usually go back to bed quickly. Yet, if I have a lot on my mind it can prove much more difficult. This has been the case lately. The myriad of noises pulling me out of my slumber range from a cat sucking on her fur, a verrrrry long dog drink out of the toilet, or the neighbor\u2019s dog behind us that loves to start barking at 3:00 a.m. because we have a nest of coyotes living in an abandoned house nearby. Yep, it happens all the time.<\/p>\n

            In my waking hours it\u2019s a bit easier to analyze the things that are keeping me up, but I start to have anxiety about being up at 2:25 a.m. and thinking about what I\u2019m going to pack for my upcoming trip or whether I\u2019m going to have everything ready for a client meeting that week or what color I want to use for the kitchen backsplash. One night in particular it seemed like I was up for 3 or more hours just lying there with my eyes closed and \u201cthinking.\u201d This makes for a long workday and triggers all kinds of other issues \u2013 needing coffee late in the day to stay awake, not feeling good physically so it\u2019s hard to concentrate, and generally wishing the day was over so I could get \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 some sleep.<\/p>\n

            The interesting thing about this latest sleeping phenomenon is that it reminds me of when it was a regular occurrence. Years ago I struggled with sleep so much that I would have a very hard time staying awake at work — to the point that I would sleep under my boss\u2019s desk during lunch. I would literally crawl under the desk, get into a ball and nap for about 45 minutes. Sometimes, if I was lucky and got there before anyone else, I would catch some z\u2019s on the couch in the women\u2019s bathroom.   Today, I just dream of having a couch in my office. I\u2019ve heard some people swear that their key to success is a short afternoon nap. I believe this. Then there\u2019s the Bill Murray 60-second nap, but I\u2019ve never been able to master that.<\/p>\n

            Not one to enjoy sleep deprivation, I will try almost anything short of a sleeping pill to sleep through the night. What I have found is that if I am using the tricks that I have been taught to stay centered, I can most likely avoid this brain churning at 3 a.m. The first item of business is to write and write and write some more about what\u2019s bothering me. As I mentioned yesterday, writing morning pages is an excellent way to empty my head. Then there\u2019s meditation \u2013 even 10 minutes of it can change my perspective. While I\u2019ve always thought that the \u201cright\u201d way to meditate was to do it in morning, when I\u2019ve done it at night it helps me to get centered before bed. There are a number of apps that are great to start a practice and have some cool guided meditations that include specific meditations for relaxing at night \u2013 check out omvana and calm to name a couple. Lastly, talking to someone about the fears (and they are almost always fears) that are keeping me up or just simply taking the action on the list to remove an item from my plate will go a long way toward a restful sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            It really is amazing the things that keep me up at night. As a light sleeper, I am woken up fairly easily and can usually go back to bed quickly. Yet, if I have a lot on my mind it can prove much more difficult. This has been the case lately. The myriad of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hz1R-35","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":217,"url":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/25\/take-time-to-breathe\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":0},"title":"Take Time to Breathe","date":"September 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 This morning I am feeling a lot of gratitude for the space I have at home. I\u2019m especially grateful because I have an entire room that\u2019s all mine. It is filled with lots of things that I love: books, magazines, art that I\u2019ve made\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "R\u00c9FL\u00c9CHIR"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.navigationmaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/2015-07-18-11.56.19-1-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":56,"url":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/2015\/07\/29\/how-to-get-to-crested-butte\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":1},"title":"How to Get to Crested Butte","date":"July 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Crested Butte isn't exactly easy to get to, but there a number of ways to find your way to the mountain. \u00a0Of course, the usual methods are obvious options - driving or flying. \u00a0For some, driving may seem like an unrealistic option due to the distance, but it has a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Colorado"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.navigationmaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_7993-e1438141180714-272x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":272,"url":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/21\/ireland-redux-part-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":2},"title":"Ireland Redux, Part One","date":"March 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 A friend of mine recently told me that when you get older you have two birthdays. This point comes to mind as I turn back to writing on my blog. This particular post started off as a redux of our \u201crecent\u201d trip to Ireland that we took in May\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ADVENTURES"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.navigationmaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/DSCF0384-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":171,"url":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/2016\/03\/30\/enjoy-the-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":3},"title":"Enjoy the Journey","date":"March 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In researching for the book, Get Down (this is what I\u2019m calling the book so I don\u2019t just call it \u201cthe book\u201d), I figured it would be a good idea to speak with the \u201cplayers,\u201d such as the prosecution team, defense counsel, judges, defendant, and possibly the police officers involved.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "R\u00c9FL\u00c9CHIR"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.navigationmaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_6161-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigationmaven.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}