How much sleep does one need?
To recover from the day
Pressure never ending
Until it has become one’s life
Permanently at the lip of exhaustion
Rarely making ground
Each day feels like it should not be
Because the last never truly ended
Extra sleep means extra work
So the cycle does not break
Yet there are days one tries
And fail in a glorious cacophony
Suggestions made from every corner
But the world stands in the way
At what point does one stop caring?
Let fate do what it sees fit
Legends of Windemere 
I’ll make a suggestion from a corner; take some time off. It doesn’t matter how much work you’ve got on, sounds like you definitely need a rest.
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Time off doesn’t really work. Even if I take time off from the writing, I still have the family to contend with. I’ve done a few day trips to relax with friends, but it always ends with me coming home to a mess. My recovered energy tends to be drained within an hour because stuff didn’t get done while I was away. That’s where the exhaustion is coming from these days. I can’t really ease up without paying for it later.
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I don’t know about your life, obviously, but I do know about mess. Frankly, your health is more important than clearing mess. Really it is. And the more tired you get, the less you’ll be able to cope. I work on the premise of achieving either one or two things in a day. You can’t do everything. And you mustn’t feel guilty. Take it from a total slut. Email me if you like.
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Not really sure what you mean by mess. I’m talking about making sure the son is fed, does his homework, school forms filled out, lunch is prepped for the next day, showered, and everything else that goes with a 5-year-old. That’s just the kid stuff too.
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I suppose I was just talking about life from my point of view. Home/family stuff vs work stuff. But you do have to let some things go. There must be some things that don’t matter so much. I feel I’m treading on unknown eggshells here, so I’ll just shut up.
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Yeah. It’s a complicated situation that I’ve made worse by talking about on the blog. People on this side of the computer wander through my posts and come at me with ‘complaints’. This is why the request to put more personal life stuff on here is a little nerve-wracking. As for home vs work, keep in mind that I work from home. So the two are intertwined.
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Yes, same here.
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I know this feeling. Only 24 hours in a day. At least that is what I tell myself when I try to make myself feel better. Works sometimes.
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Some days that seems like such a tiny number.
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Yeah, it is in the end.
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One step forward – two steps back…that’s how my days go lately!
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So true. Why couldn’t those two steps lead back to bed?
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I know there is no good advice that will help so I will tell a little story. A guy who is living his last hours is asked by a man of god what he would have like to do more of on Earth. The man thought a minute and said, “tell you what, working more isn’t one of the things.”
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That’s why I think people should be urged to get a job that they love. That way work isn’t a stressful situation.
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I agree with that.
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I totally relate to this. I work freelance, and can tell you that it is stressful, especially as I wait on a paycheck. So these verses really spoke to me:
Pressure never ending
Until it has become one’s life
Permanently at the lip of exhaustion
Rarely making ground
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It’s a frustrating state. I’m at a point where I feel like no matter how much sleep I get, I wake up tired. I thought taking August off would be helpful, but it seems September did some damage.
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It’s not that hard to figure out, actually. Try less sleep by an hour a night. You’ll. Find a point that intolerable. Add sleep, give it at least a few nights to pay sleep debt. You’ll find a range of sleep times and a range of results. Choose how much time suits you. Most folks cut corners without ever really appreciating the cost.
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Not sure I really follow. Currently, I sleep maybe 5-6 hours a night. I couldn’t imagine cutting it back any more without causing more exhaustion.
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No need to cut back if you’re already in pain, Try adding some, you might like it!
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Maybe some day. The busy schedule and unpredictable 5-year-old tend to make things extremely hit and miss. Though most of the chaos should be settled by the middle of the month.
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Keep in mind, the benefit of sleep deprivation also incurs a cost. Make sure you come out ahead!
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Never really thought there was a benefit to sleep deprivation.
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Wow, I can sympathize with this one. Get some rest my friend, exhaustion is not healthy.
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Thanks. Weekend is coming soon.
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Things will get better. Boys tend to need less maintenance when they grow up. Once he realizes what it means to help daddy out, your life will get a whole lot simpler.
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I hope so. Though helping daddy in some things might cause more trouble than I’m ready for. He’s already tried to help type one of my books. It was cute, but took 15 minutes to undo.
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Ctrl-Z’s your friend, I suppose!
When he gets older he can certainly clean his room. I know my kids started doing their own laundry when they were seven. Yep, we haven’t had to do their laundry in ages. It’s that whole, “teach a man to fish, you’re feeding him for life” sort of thing.
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Ever notice that Ctrl-Z occasionally stops after a certain period of time? Rather infuriating at times.
I’m not really worried about laundry since I do all of ours together. Cleaning his room or choosing his own YouTube videos would be nice. 🙂
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I’ve noticed that, but it’s configurable through the Windows Clipboard option in Word.
Ha! Well, you have your work cut out for you!
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I’ll have to check that out. I thought it was because auto-save would kick in and lock down some stuff.
The kid always makes me work for my sleep.
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I have complete empathy with this poem, Charles, well written.
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Thanks. I’m really worn down too. Been spending all week trying to get down with the book editing before the weekend. 35 pages to go, but it feels like a thousand.
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I’m with you all the way, I believe in you, Charles. Make sure you reward yourself after.
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I’m going to sleep. That’s the reward. Though I’ll be ‘offline’ for most of tomorrow, so that might count too.
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Charles? You’re worrying me.
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Still working on getting used to the new schedule of full-time author, full-time father, and full-time stay at home parent.
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Tank on E, 1 day late, $1 short, we can relate. 🙂
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Yup. My plan to sleep in kind of bombed too. Hard to do when the kid is up and being loud.
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