This is a companion to my post about my email / social media routine. And one I’m actually a bit nervous to write because I don’t want to jinx anything!
My whole life, I’ve had major issues with my sleep patterns and with fatigue. I have varied between not getting very much sleep at all (younger years) to getting more sleep but at very vampire / night owl hours. Regardless of when or how much I sleep, I have never felt rested. I have struggled so much with being constantly tired, and my doctor not long ago handed me the label of chronic fatigue syndrome.
But!!!
When I intentionally said “no” to the FOMO (fear of missing out — see the post linked above)… When I decided to hold myself to living in the moment of my life without constantly checking to see what was happening in someone else’s life on email or social media… Something else very profound appears to have begun.
There is starting to be a shift in my sleep patterns. It is subtle, but, for me, revelatory. I have certainly been exploring other methods of self-care & healing, so this could certainly be a mixture of various efforts. But I actually noticed a marked shift truly based around me holding myself to my rules for email & social media.
I don’t know if I have a full answer for the “why” of this. It could be that, with allowing my mind to focus on the present each evening after work, with not allowing messages from others to start new gears spinning in my head, my mind is able to calm a bit more easily, allowing for more restful sleep when it comes. It may be that, without going down the rabbit hole of social media & email, I’m simply shifting to going to bed a bit earlier, an action that has eluded me for years. The only thing I know for sure is that the tipping point for this change starting came with me holding myself to my email / social media rules as mentioned above.
This is by no means a done deal (one reason I don’t want to jinx it by writing about it!!). I’m still tired most of the time, and I still have difficulty with aspects of sleep. But change is happening, and I’m feeling it. And I want more!
As I write this, I’m a few months in, and perhaps I’ll post something in the future about progress (or, hopefully not, lack thereof). But, for now, I’m seeing intense benefits from allowing myself to stay focused & present in my life and work and not permitting the constant fracturing distraction that can be email and social media.
Powerful communication tools are just that — powerful. If we use them in focused and intentional ways, they are amazing. If we allow the tools to call the shots, well, that’s what I’m beginning to see can be extraordinarily detrimental.
Now, to get all those 24/7 connected businesses out there to take a breath. 🙂
